Company type | Public |
---|---|
Industry | Chemical industry |
Founded | September 1, 1997 |
Defunct | July 2, 2012 |
Fate | Acquired by Eastman Chemical Company |
Headquarters | Town and Country, Missouri |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Jeffry Quinn (chairman, president, and CEO) |
Products | Specialty chemicals |
Number of employees | ~3400 |
Website | www.solutia.com |
Solutia Inc. was an American manufacturer of materials and specialty chemicals including polyvinyl butyral (PVB), ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) interlayers for laminated glass, aftermarket window films, protective barrier and conductive films, and rubber processing chemicals. The company was formed on September 1, 1997, as a divestiture of the Monsanto Company chemical business. In July 2012, the company was acquired by Eastman Chemical Company. [1]
Solutia's worldwide headquarters were located in Town and Country, Missouri, United States, with regional headquarters located in Zaventem, Belgium; São Paulo, Brazil; and Shanghai, China. [2]
Solutia was known as the world's leading manufacturer of PVB, EVA, and TPU interlayers, custom-coated window and performance films, and chemicals for the rubber industry. [3] In 2009, the company completed the sale of its nylon division, with closure of the sale in the second quarter 2009. [4] In 2010, the company purchased Etimex-Solar and Novomatrix, further enhancing its portfolio of interlayer and film products. [5]
The company was formed on September 1, 1997, as a divestiture of the Monsanto Company chemical business. Solutia filed for bankruptcy on December 17, 2003, in response to significant litigation surrounding various products, unsustainable debt structure, and a downturn in the economy. Solutia emerged from bankruptcy on February 28, 2008. [6]
Solutia employed approximately 3,400 people in more than 50 locations worldwide, and reported $1.67 billion in annual revenues for 2009, and $984 million in revenues through June 30, 2010, for its continued operations (nylon revenue not included in figures; new acquisitions included in figures for 2010 only). [7]
Solutia was bought by Eastman Chemical Company in 2012 for $4.8 billion. [8]
As of April 26, 2010, Solutia reported its businesses in three segments: Advanced Interlayers, Performance Films, and Technical Specialties. The products within these segments are as follows:
Advanced Interlayers plastic interlayers are used for laminated safety glass, primarily in automotive and architectural applications; Advanced Interlayers also produces PVB, EVA and TPU solar module encapsulants for thin-film and building-integrated photovoltaic applications. Advanced Interlayers brands include Saflex, Vistasolar, Vanceva Color Studio and KeepSafe Max.
Performance Films professional and retail window films are custom-coated and used primarily for automotive and architectural aftermarket tinting, safety and energy efficiency applications under the brand names of LLumar, Vista, EnerLogic, V-KOOL, IQue, Hüper Optik, Sun-X, nanoLux, Gila and FormulaOne High Performance Auto Tint. Performance Films precision coatings products, sold under the Flexvue films brand, are used in protective and conductive films for touch screens and electronic devices, as well as thin-film photovoltaic and concentrating solar power applications.
Solutia and its parent company Monsanto agreed in 2003 to pay $700 million to settle claims by 20,000 Anniston, Alabama residents over PCB contamination. [9] Monsanto documents indicate that the company routinely dumped PCBs in the land and water supply of Anniston and covered up its behavior for more than 40 years. [10] In 2008, PCBs were found outside Anniston High School. [11]
Solutia's Springfield, Massachusetts plant ranks as #4 on the EPA's top five facilities that reported the largest quantity of on- and off-site environmental releases in Massachusetts under the Toxics Release Inventory for 2007. [12]
Solutia's Delaware River Plant is responsible for contaminating the soil and the groundwater with three old hazardous-waste disposal areas, a phenol equalization lagoon, two sludge lagoons, a raw-waste lagoon, a process sewer system, a storm-water drainage ditch, and a closed Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulated hazardous waste landfill. [13]
The Solutia AES Property Site near the Kanawha River in Nitro, West Virginia, was found by the EPA to have 18 buried, deteriorating drums containing dioxin. EPA determined that a threat to public health or welfare or the environment existed due to the release or threat of release of dioxin at the site. [14]
The Solutia facility in Sauget, Illinois is responsible for emitting PCBs, benzene, chlorobenzene, lead, and mercury. Solutia completed an interim remedy in 2004 to contain, intercept, and collect contaminated groundwater discharging and causing environmental impacts to the Mississippi River. [15]
In 2006, the EPA filed suit against Solutia, Shell Oil, and Mallinckrodt over hazardous materials found at the Great Lakes Container Corp. in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1995, a fire alerted officials to the potential dangers of the 11-acre (45,000 m2) site, and environmental investigations turned up buried drums of hazardous materials, asbestos and high levels of lead and polychlorinated biphenyls. According to the consent decree, 61,650 tons of soil contaminated with PCBs and lead was removed from the site as were more than 800 buried drums. [16]
Solutia's Chocolate Bayou Alvin facility ranked #1 in the EPA's top ten facilities in Texas for total on-site and off-site releases of all chemicals in 2009. [17]
In May 2009, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality approved a penalty of $117,048 assessed against Solutia for 14 air violations that occurred over a year and a half period. [18]
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds, formerly used in industrial and consumer products, whose production was banned in the United States by the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1976 and internationally by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 2001.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on December 2, 1970, after Nixon signed an executive order. The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate.
The Monsanto Company was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best-known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in the 1970s. Later, the company became a major producer of genetically engineered crops. In 2018, the company ranked 199th on the Fortune 500 of the largest United States corporations by revenue.
Anniston is a city and the county seat of Calhoun County in Alabama, United States, and is one of two urban centers/principal cities of and included in the Anniston-Oxford Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 23,106. According to 2019 Census estimates, the city had a population of 21,287. Named "The Model City" by Atlanta newspaperman Henry W. Grady for its careful planning in the late 19th century, the city is situated on the slope of Blue Mountain.
Nitro is a city in Kanawha and Putnam counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It takes its name from a World War I era nitrocellulose plant. The population was 6,618 according to the 2020 census. It is part of the Charleston metropolitan area.
Industrial waste is the waste produced by industrial activity which includes any material that is rendered useless during a manufacturing process such as that of factories, mills, and mining operations. Types of industrial waste include dirt and gravel, masonry and concrete, scrap metal, oil, solvents, chemicals, scrap lumber, even vegetable matter from restaurants. Industrial waste may be solid, semi-solid or liquid in form. It may be hazardous waste or non-hazardous waste. Industrial waste may pollute the nearby soil or adjacent water bodies, and can contaminate groundwater, lakes, streams, rivers or coastal waters. Industrial waste is often mixed into municipal waste, making accurate assessments difficult. An estimate for the US goes as high as 7.6 billion tons of industrial waste produced annually, as of 2017. Most countries have enacted legislation to deal with the problem of industrial waste, but strictness and compliance regimes vary. Enforcement is always an issue.
Toxic waste is any unwanted material in all forms that can cause harm. Mostly generated by industry, consumer products like televisions, computers, and phones contain toxic chemicals that can pollute the air and contaminate soil and water. Disposing of such waste is a major public health issue.
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), enacted in 1976, is the primary federal law in the United States governing the disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste.
Eastman Chemical Company is an American company primarily involved in the chemical industry. Once a subsidiary of Kodak, today it is an independent global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of advanced materials, chemicals and fibers for everyday purposes. Founded in 1920 and based in Kingsport, Tennessee, the company operates 36 manufacturing sites worldwide and employs approximately 14,000 people.
Polyvinyl butyral is a resin mostly used for applications that require strong binding, optical clarity, adhesion to many surfaces, toughness and flexibility. It is prepared from polyvinyl alcohol by reaction with butyraldehyde. The major application is laminated safety glass for automobile windshields. Trade names for PVB-films include KB PVB, GUTMANN PVB, Saflex, GlasNovations, Butacite, WINLITE, S-Lec, Trosifol and EVERLAM. PVB is also available as 3D printer filament that is stronger and more heat resistant than polylactic acid (PLA).
Laminated glass is a type of safety glass consisting of two or more layers of glass with one or more thin polymer interlayers between them which prevent the glass from breaking into large sharp pieces. Breaking produces a characteristic "spider web" cracking pattern when the impact is not enough to completely pierce the glass.
The Denver Federal Center, in Lakewood, Colorado, is part of the General Services Administration and is home to about 6,200 employees of agencies of the federal government of the United States. The Center encompasses an area of about 670 acres (2.7 km2) and has 90 buildings with over 4,000,000 square feet (400,000 m2) of office, warehouse, lab and special use space. There are 28 different Federal agencies on-site, making it the largest concentration of Federal agencies outside of Washington, D.C.
Skydrol is a brand name of fire-resistant hydraulic fluid used in aviation and aerospace applications. It is a phosphate ester-based fluid that is known for its excellent fire resistance and ability to withstand extreme temperature and pressure conditions. It is manufactured by Solutia, and formerly manufactured by Monsanto. There are various lines of Skydrol including Skydrol 500B-4, Skydrol LD-4, and Skydrol 5.
Therminol is a synthetic heat transfer fluid produced by Eastman Chemical Company.
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Solid waste policy in the United States is aimed at developing and implementing proper mechanisms to effectively manage solid waste. For solid waste policy to be effective, inputs should come from stakeholders, including citizens, businesses, community-based organizations, non-governmental organizations, government agencies, universities, and other research organizations. These inputs form the basis of policy frameworks that influence solid waste management decisions. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates household, industrial, manufacturing, and commercial solid and hazardous wastes under the 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Effective solid waste management is a cooperative effort involving federal, state, regional, and local entities. Thus, the RCRA's Solid Waste program section D encourages the environmental departments of each state to develop comprehensive plans to manage nonhazardous industrial and municipal solid waste.
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Community Against Pollution aka Citizens Against Pollution or (CAP) is an organization formed by the residents of Anniston, Alabama, in response to the effects of pollution.
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The Burnt Fly Bog Superfund Site is located in Marlboro Township in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Contamination began in the 1950s and 1960s. It was used as a dumping ground for hazardous chemicals and oils. This site was used to reprocess or recycle oil, and it was also used as a landfill during the 1950s. The contamination affected the surface water and soil. The EPA got involved in the 1980s and addressed the situation. Human health concerns were a main part of the EPA getting involved because residents lived only about 1,000 to 2,000 feet around the site. Major components of the remedy included excavation and off-site disposal of contaminated soil from Northerly Wetlands, Tar Patch Area. The back filling of the areas addressed, monitoring of the surface water and sediments, and biological sampling in the Westerly Wetlands. The current status of the site is complete. The remedial stages were completed in the late 1990s and a five-year monitoring of the surface water was completed around 2004.