Stauffer Chemical

Last updated

Stauffer Chemical Company
IndustryChemical
Founded1886 (1886) in San Francisco, California, United States
FoundersJohn Stauffer Sr.
Christian de Guigne
Headquarters
USA
ProductsFabricated Plastic products and Agricultural Chemicals
The Stauffer Chemical Company plant in Houston in June 1972 THE STAUFFER CHEMICAL PLANT HAS BEEN CRITICIZED BY LOCAL NEWSPAPERS FOR POLLUTING THE AIR - NARA - 545837.jpg
The Stauffer Chemical Company plant in Houston in June 1972

Stauffer Chemical Company was an American chemical company which manufactured herbicides and pesticides for various agricultural crops. It was acquired by Imperial Chemical Industries from Chesebrough-Pond's Inc. in 1987. [1] In 1987, Stauffer's head office was in Westport, Connecticut. [1] Late that year, Imperial sold Stauffer's basic chemicals business to Rhône-Poulenc S.A. [2]

Contents

History

The company was founded in 1885 in San Francisco as a partnership between two young Europeans; a German, John Stauffer Sr., and a Frenchman, Christian de Guigne. Ships exporting wheat to Europe used stone from the chalk cliffs of Dover as ballast. This discarded ballast became the inexpensive raw material for precipitated calcium carbonate at the newly formed company. The company was incorporated by John Stauffer Sr., who died on March 4, 1940, at the age of 78. [3] [4] [5] [6]

In 1931, the company announced plans for a new manufacturing subsidiary, the Pacific Hard Rubber Company. [7]

Hans Stauffer, nephew of founder John Stauffer Sr, who joined his uncle at Stauffer Chemicals in 1920 and who retired as president in 1967, died in 1986. [6]

John Stauffer Jr., director emeritus of the company and son of the company's founder, died in 1972. The John Stauffer Laboratory for Physical Chemistry, the John Stauffer Chemistry Building at Stanford University, and the John Stauffer Science Center at Whittier College are all named after him. [8] [9]

Pollution and site contamination

A Stauffer Chemical factory in Tarpon Springs, Florida in Pinellas County ( 28°10′00″N82°46′32″W / 28.16666°N 082.77569°W / 28.16666; -082.77569 ), produced elemental phosphorus from phosphate ore operated from 1947 until 1981. The factory was originally operated by Victor Chemical Company, and was acquired by Stauffer Chemical in 1960. The United States Environmental Protection Agency reported that "Site operations resulted in the contamination of soils, ground water, and waste ponds on the property. The main contaminants of concern (COCs) in soil include arsenic, antimony, beryllium, elemental phosphorus, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), radium-226, and thallium." [10]

1982 and 1983 earnings dispute

In 1984, the company was accused by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of overstating its 1982 and 1983 earnings through non-standard accounting. [11] [12]

Phosphorus trichloride plant

The company was in the headlines in the mid-1980s for selling its design for a chemical plant to make phosphorus trichloride to Krebs A.G., a Swiss company. The plant modeled after a Stauffer plant in Pennsylvania, was subsequently built by Krebs for El Nasr Pharmaceutical Company of Egypt. Phosphorus trichloride is well known for its dual use capacity as a precursor for the manufacture of organophosphates including both pesticides and nerve agents such as Sarin and Tabun. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chalcogen</span> Group of chemical elements

The chalcogens are the chemical elements in group 16 of the periodic table. This group is also known as the oxygen family. Group 16 consists of the elements oxygen (O), sulfur (S), selenium (Se), tellurium (Te), and the radioactive elements polonium (Po) and livermorium (Lv). Often, oxygen is treated separately from the other chalcogens, sometimes even excluded from the scope of the term "chalcogen" altogether, due to its very different chemical behavior from sulfur, selenium, tellurium, and polonium. The word "chalcogen" is derived from a combination of the Greek word khalkόs (χαλκός) principally meaning copper, and the Latinized Greek word genēs, meaning born or produced.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imperial Chemical Industries</span> Former British chemicals, paints and pharmaceuticals company

Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at Millbank in London. ICI was a constituent of the FT 30 and later the FTSE 100 indices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phosphorus</span> Chemical element with atomic number 15 (P)

Phosphorus is a chemical element; it has symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Earth. It has a concentration in the Earth's crust of about one gram per kilogram. In minerals, phosphorus generally occurs as phosphate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chemical industry</span> Industry (branch), which is engaged in the manufacturing of chemical products

The chemical industry comprises the companies and other organizations that develop and produce industrial, specialty and other chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials into commodity chemicals for industrial and consumer products. It includes industries for petrochemicals such as polymers for plastics and synthetic fibers; inorganic chemicals such as acids and alkalis; agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides; and other categories such as industrial gases, speciality chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pnictogen</span> Group 15 elements of the periodic table with valency 5

The pnictogens are the chemical elements in group 15 of the periodic table. This group is also known as the nitrogen group or nitrogen family. Group 15 consists of the elements nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), arsenic (As), antimony (Sb), bismuth (Bi), and moscovium (Mc).

A period 3 element is one of the chemical elements in the third row of the periodic table of the chemical elements. The periodic table is laid out in rows to illustrate recurring (periodic) trends in the chemical behavior of the elements as their atomic number increases: a new row is begun when chemical behavior begins to repeat, meaning that elements with similar behavior fall into the same vertical columns. The third period contains eight elements: sodium, magnesium, aluminium, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine and argon. The first two, sodium and magnesium, are members of the s-block of the periodic table, while the others are members of the p-block. All of the period 3 elements occur in nature and have at least one stable isotope.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dow Chemical Company</span> American chemical company

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company was among the three largest chemical producers in the world in 2021. It is the operating subsidiary of Dow Inc., a publicly traded holding company incorporated under Delaware law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goodrich Corporation</span> Defunct American manufacturer

The Goodrich Corporation, formerly the B.F. Goodrich Company, was an American manufacturing company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in Akron, Ohio in 1870 as Goodrich, Tew & Co. by Dr. Benjamin Franklin Goodrich, the company name was changed to the "B.F. Goodrich Company" in 1880, to BFGoodrich in the 1980s, and to "Goodrich Corporation" in 2001. Originally a rubber manufacturing company known for automobile tires, the company diversified its manufacturing businesses throughout the twentieth century and sold off its tire business in 1986 to focus on its other businesses, such as aerospace and chemical manufacturing. The BFGoodrich brand name continues to be used by Michelin, who acquired the tire manufacturing business in 1988. Following the acquisition by United Technologies in 2012, Goodrich became a part of UTC Aerospace Systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VG (nerve agent)</span> Chemical compound

VG is a "V-series" nerve agent chemically similar to the better-known VX nerve agent. Tetram is the common Russian name for the substance. Amiton was the trade name for the substance when it was marketed as an insecticide by ICI in the mid-1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vapi</span> City in Gujarat, India

Vapi, is a city and Municipal Corporation in Valsad district in the state of Gujarat, India. It is situated near the banks of the Daman Ganga River, around 28 km south of the district headquarters in the city of Valsad, and it is surrounded by the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. The town originally belonged to the Kshatriya Jagirdar family Palande during The Great Maratha Empire. After independence from the British Crown, the Jagirdar system was abolished by the Indian government in 1951 and the community of Anavil Brahmin who formerly acted as tax farmers during the era of the Maratha Empire received the land. It is believed that the city got its name from the old small stepwell which was built by Maratha and is situated near the Balitha area.The meaning of vapi (वापी) in sanskrit is a water reservoir or a water storage body.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phosphorus trichloride</span> Chemical compound

Phosphorus trichloride is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula PCl3. A colorless liquid when pure, it is an important industrial chemical, being used for the manufacture of phosphites and other organophosphorus compounds. It is toxic and reacts readily with water to release hydrogen chloride.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Rubber Company</span> American manufacturer of tires

The company formerly known as the United States Rubber Company, now Uniroyal, is an American manufacturer of tires and other synthetic rubber-related products, as well as variety of items for military use, such as ammunition, explosives, chemical weapons and operations and maintenance activities (O&MA) at the government-owned contractor-operated facilities. It was founded in Naugatuck, Connecticut, in 1892. It was one of the original 12 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and became Uniroyal, Inc., as part of creating a unified brand for its products and subsidiaries in 1961.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phosphoryl chloride</span> Chemical compound

Phosphoryl chloride is a colourless liquid with the formula POCl3. It hydrolyses in moist air releasing phosphoric acid and fumes of hydrogen chloride. It is manufactured industrially on a large scale from phosphorus trichloride and oxygen or phosphorus pentoxide. It is mainly used to make phosphate esters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Koppers</span> Pittsburgh-based chemical company

Koppers is a global chemical and materials company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Its headquarters is an art-deco 1920s skyscraper, the Koppers Tower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Apopka</span> Lake in Florida, United States

Lake Apopka is the fourth largest lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is located 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Orlando, mostly within the bounds of Orange County, although the western part is in Lake County. Fed by a natural spring, rainfall and stormwater runoff, water from Lake Apopka flows through the Apopka-Beauclair Canal and into Lakes Beauclair and Dora. From Lake Dora, water flows into Lake Eustis, then into Lake Griffin and then northward into the Ocklawaha River, which flows into the St. Johns River. Multiple parks or nature trails are present around the lake including Magnolia Park, Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, Ferndale Preserve, Oakland Nature Preserve, Dr. Bradford Memorial Park, and Newton Park, named for A. B. Newton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FMC Corporation</span> American chemical manufacturing company

FMC Corporation is an American chemical manufacturing company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which originated as an insecticide producer in 1883 and later diversified into other industries. In 1941 at the beginning of US involvement in WWII, the company received a contract to design and build amphibious tracked landing vehicles for the United States Department of War, and afterwards the company continued to diversify its products. FMC employs 7,000 people worldwide, and had gross revenues of US$4.7 billion in 2018.

The Thermphos International B.V. was a venture of the chemical industry, which produced phosphorus and inorganic phosphorus compounds. In 2005, it earned about 550 Million Euros and employed about 1200 people. It was Europe's only producer of elemental phosphorus. The company was also involved in recycling phosphorus. It used to be a former affiliate of the German chemicals company Hoechst AG and was taken over in 2003 by a group of private investors, led by the Italian-Israeli businessman Nahum Galmor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesotrione</span> Chemical compound used as an herbicide

Mesotrione is a selective herbicide used mainly in maize crops. It is a synthetic compound inspired by the natural substance leptospermone found in the bottlebrush tree Callistemon citrinus. It inhibits the enzyme 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD) and is sold under brand names including Callisto and Tenacity. It was first marketed by Syngenta in 2001.

Henrik Johannes Krebs, sometimes called Henry J. Krebs, was an American immigrant from Denmark who started the Krebs Pigments and Chemical Company to manufacture the pigment lithopone.

Khimprom Novocheboksarsk is a chemicals-producing company based in Novocheboksarsk, Russia. It is part of Orgsintez Group (Renova).

References

  1. 1 2 Hicks, Jonathan P. (June 6, 1987). "Imperial set to buy Stauffer". The New York Times. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
  2. "Company News; Imperial Set to Sell More Stauffer Units". The New York Times. Reuters. September 23, 1987. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
  3. "Obituary 2 -- No Title" . The New York Times. March 5, 1940.
  4. "Miss Stauffer Plans to Wed". Style. The New York Times. September 4, 1988.
  5. "Jill Stauffer Is Married". Style. The New York Times. October 18, 1987.
  6. 1 2 "Hans Stauffer Is Dead; Led Chemical Concern". The New York Times. November 16, 1986.
  7. "New Industry Launched. Pacific Hard Rubber Company Announces Plans for Factory Representing $100,000 Investment". Los Angeles Times. October 25, 1931. p. D1. Establishment of a new industry in Los Angeles with an initial investment of approximately $100,000 in plant and equipment and which will employ at its opening about fifty men was announced yesterday by John Stauffer, Jr., when he made known the formation of the Pacific Hard Rubber Company.... The new company is owned and controlled by the Stauffer Chemical Company
  8. "Stauffer Succombs At Age 74". Merced Sun-Star. The Associated Press. December 14, 1972. Archived from the original on January 25, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
  9. "John Stauffer of Chemical Company Dies". Los Angeles Times. December 14, 1972. p. D24.
  10. "Region 4 - Superfund - NPL/Caliber Sites-Florida - Stauffer Chemical Company (Tarpon Springs)". U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
  11. Noble, Kenneth B. (August 14, 1984). "Stauffer Accused by S.E.C. of Fraud". The New York Times. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
  12. "Stauffer Chemical". The New York Times. August 17, 1984. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
  13. A Cordesman (1996). Perilous Prospects: The Peace Process And The Arab-Israeli Military Balance. Taylor&Francis, Westview Press. ISBN   0-8133-2939-6. ISBN   0-8133-3074-2. Retrieved 22 April 2018.