Displaying items by tag: solenis

Solenis, a leading global producer of specialty chemicals, recently launched an informative new blog to help customers and organizations in water-intensive industries. Located at www.solenis.com/en/newsblog, the blog features tips and educational articles for sustainable water treatment and process improvement.

From the use of artificial intelligence in papermaking, to the impact of legislation on sustainable food and beverage packaging, Solenis’ blog covers a range of today’s most pertinent topics for both consumer and industrial markets.

Content will be updated regularly and is authored by Solenis team members, including technical experts and members of the leadership team. Subjects will include sustainability and social responsibility, artificial intelligence in papermaking, changes in food and beverage paper packaging, graphic paper development, tissue and towel production, industrial water treatment, wastewater management and more.

Readers can easily filter articles by industry or browse by themes such as digital solutions, process enhancement, barrier coatings and sustainability.

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“Solenis has long been a trusted partner with the resources to help solve the most complex sustainability challenges,” said Christoph Adami, vice president, Technology and Global Marketing for Solenis. “This new blog allows us to better share our expertise with plant managers, brand owners and others who work in consumer and water-intensive industries so they can manage their resources more efficiently — and more sustainably.”

The blog adds to Solenis’ expanding portfolio of resources for decision-makers. The company also recently launched a new website at www.solenis.com/explore, which offers greater transparency into its sustainability efforts plus easy access to product and solution information, like the Solenis safety data sheet (SDS) library.

For more information, visit the new blog at www.solenis.com/en/newsblog

About Solenis

Solenis is a leading global producer of specialty chemicals focused on delivering sustainable solutions for water-intensive industries, including the pulp, packaging paper and board, tissue and towel, oil and gas, petroleum refining, chemical processing, mining, biorefining, power and municipal markets. The company’s product portfolio includes a broad array of water treatment chemistries, process aids, functional additives as well as state-of-the-art monitoring and control systems. These technologies are used by customers to improve operational efficiencies, enhance product quality, protect plant assets and minimize environmental impact. Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, the company has 41 manufacturing facilities strategically located around the globe and employs a team of approximately 5,000 professionals in 120 countries across five continents. Solenis is a 2021 US Best Managed Company.

For additional information about Solenis, please visit www.solenis.com

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Sale Follows Company’s Continued Growth and Success Driving Sustainability and Operational Efficiency in Water-Intensive Industries

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (“CD&R”) today announced an agreement under which its portfolio company, Solenis, will be acquired by Platinum Equity. The transaction, expected to close before the end of 2021, implies an enterprise value for Solenis of $5.25 billion. CD&R and Solenis management currently collectively own 51% of Solenis, and chemical company BASF holds the remaining 49%. Both CD&R and BASF will fully exit Solenis as part of the transaction announced today.

Founded in 1907 and headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, Solenis is a global leader in supplying innovative specialty chemicals and services for process, functional and water treatment applications to consumer and industrial markets. The company’s global footprint spans across 120 countries and five continents, and comprises over 5,200 employees and 41 manufacturing facilities. The company’s two primary business segments, Consumer and Industrial, deliver solutions that help customers drive sustainability and operational efficiency while reducing costs, and together represent significant growth potential for the business.

2018 04 24 070924CD&R funds acquired a majority stake in Solenis from Ashland, Inc. in a July 2014 transaction that ascribed an enterprise valuation of $1.8 billion to Solenis. In 2019, Solenis merged with BASF’s Paper & Water Chemicals business, creating a leading solutions provider for the pulp & paper and water treatment industries.

Under CD&R’s ownership, Solenis enhanced its service-intensive business model, which relies on its more than 1,400 highly trained sales technicians operating on site at customers’ facilities. This operational focus allowed Solenis to expand its presence in the market, increase its customer base and enhance its approach to delivering sustainable value. It also enabled Solenis to navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic whilst retaining a strong financial profile and creating opportunities for continued growth in the future.

“We’re proud to have supported Solenis’ growth strategy and have enjoyed working alongside the company’s talented team since our initial investment in 2014,” said CD&R Partner Stephen Shapiro. “In that time, Solenis has significantly expanded its global presence, strengthened its customer offerings, and emerged as a sustainability leader. We’re pleased to have found a strong new investment partner for Solenis and look forward to following the company’s continued success.”

This transaction is a strong validation of the growth and success we have achieved over the last seven years under CD&R ownership,” said Solenis Chief Executive Officer John Panichella. “We thank the CD&R team for its support, which has positioned us well for this exciting next phase of growth with our new investment partners at Platinum.”

BofA Securities and Citigroup Global Markets served as co-financial advisors for Solenis, and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP provided legal counsel to Solenis. BofA Securities and Citi acted as financial advisors, and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP provided legal counsel to CD&R. Piper Sandler Valence acted as financial advisor and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP provided legal counsel to Platinum.

About Clayton, Dubilier & Rice

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (“CD&R”) is a private investment firm with a strategy predicated on building stronger, more profitable businesses. Since inception, CD&R has managed the investment of more than $35 billion in 100 companies with an aggregate transaction value of more than $150 billion. The Firm has offices in New York and London. For more information, please visit www.cdr-inc.com.

About Solenis 

Solenis is a leading global producer of specialty chemicals focused on delivering sustainable solutions for water-intensive industries, including the pulp, packaging paper and board, tissue and towel, oil and gas, petroleum refining, chemical processing, mining, biorefining, power and municipal markets. The company’s product portfolio includes a broad array of water treatment chemistries, process aids, functional additives as well as state-of-the-art monitoring and control systems. These technologies are used by customers to improve operational efficiencies, enhance product quality, protect plant assets and minimize environmental impact. Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, the company has 41 manufacturing facilities strategically located around the globe and employs a team of more than 5,200 professionals in 120 countries across five continents. Solenis is a 2021 US Best Managed Company. Learn more here and at www.solenis.com.

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The unfolding of the past several months has led to more unpredictability than any of us could have imagined. Stay-at-home orders, social distancing guidelines and consumer panic buying have created major irregularities in tissue and towel market dynamics and consumption patterns. These challenges also present a great opportunity to help tissue and towel producers adapt and respond to these sudden changes.

Pushing for Productivity

2018 04 24 070924As consumers around the world actively stockpiled supplies and household staple items, tissue makers were pushed to maximize production. In some countries, bath tissue sales increased by more than 50% during the early months of the pandemic. Though machine utilization rates spiked to nearly 100%, there were still difficulties meeting demand. For Solenis, being part of a larger effort to help customers increase output through higher production efficiency was an opportunity to transform our expertise and capabilities into tangible benefits for our customers and, ultimately, for consumers who rely on their products every day. Our teams partnered with tissue makers across the globe to help optimize wet-end process and coating stability to improve productivity and paper quality. These efforts have helped multiple customers achieve record machine speeds to meet the unexpected surge in demand.

Beyond great chemistry and applications, many of our customers have also leveraged the Solenis OPTIX™ Applied Intelligence adaptive analytics platform to optimize their papermaking processes and meet quality targets. We have documented successes in reducing off-spec tissue production by helping customers significantly improve wet tensile target adherence and reduce variability.

Managing Fiber Supply Challenges

Tissue made from recovered fiber accounts for approximately 30% of global production. Over the past few months, the recovered paper market has experienced extreme volatility. An unprecedented surge in tissue and packaging board demand, combined with reductions in office wastepaper and old corrugated cardboard availability, has tightened supply.

This has forced some tissue makers to switch from higher quality office waste to lower quality alternatives, which can result in lower strength and increased wet-end contamination. We have collaborated with a number of these tissue manufacturers, helping them evaluate and modify their dry-strength and contaminant control solutions to overcome these challenges.

An increasing number of tissue makers are also producing tissue made from non-wood alternative fiber, such as bamboo, which is not related to the pandemic per se, but it is exacerbating some of the other challenges affecting the industry. Non-wood tissue accounts for approximately 10% of global tissue production. Though more common right now in the Asia Pacific market, non-wood tissue will continue to expand across the other regions. In fact, several recently launched direct-to-consumer tissue brands are selling 100% bamboo tissue outside of Asia.

This type of tissue is seen as a more environmentally friendly and sustainable alternative. However, non-wood pulps typically contain higher levels of contaminants, such as silica and fines, which create Yankee coating challenges related to hardness, dusting and abrasiveness. Solenis has partnered with tissue makers to address challenges related to improving softness/hand feel, machine runnability and extending doctor blade life.

Preparing for New Paper Towel Opportunities

In the wake of the global pandemic, there is a renewed emphasis on hand hygiene that has resulted in more hand washing and hand drying occasions. Many establishments are also replacing hot and jet air dryers with paper towel dispensers in public restrooms. In addition, experts recommend cleaning and disinfecting high-touch surfaces at least once a day to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission via surface contact. All of these trends are driving an increase in paper towel usage and pushing manufacturers to enhance their product requirements.

Solenis is well-positioned to help tissue makers produce more — and higher quality — paper towels. Our extended network of field professionals and application experts collaborate directly with paper producers to customize solutions to their unique needs. At the same time, our global manufacturing footprint allows us to deliver a variety of wet- and dry-strength products efficiently and cost-effectively to any mill, anywhere in the world. Our additives have enabled towel producers in all regions to enhance product quality in the areas of wet strength (for improved durability when used with disinfectants/cleaners), absorbency and scrubbability (to ensure the towel can clean a wider surface area).

The New “Normal”

Post-COVID-19, the world will likely operate very differently. Suppliers must evolve as much as the customers they serve, which is why Solenis is actively working to enhance, extend and redefine our capabilities to align with the changing world. We have an exciting pipeline of new activities planned for the next 12 months and look forward to helping producers navigate through these tumultuous times.

 About the Author:

Richard Cho has held the position of global marketing director for Solenis Tissue & Towel since 2016. In this role, he is responsible for developing the global strategy, driving the innovation pipeline and leading digital communication for this vertical market. Prior to Solenis, Richard was the director of global marketing for Industrial Specialties at Ashland. Earlier in his career, Richard held brand management positions at Diageo and Campbell Soup Company. He holds a Master of Science from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

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OPTIX™ Applied Intelligence platform identifies patterns in paper machine data, delivering digital process improvement recommendations for product quality purposes

Solenis, a leading global producer of specialty chemicals, is working with a North American tissue maker to deliver continuous process improvement with autonomous chemistry control through its secure OPTIX™ Applied Intelligence artificial intelligence (AI) platform.

Developed with ProcessMiner™, a leading AI platform, Solenis’ adaptive analytics system accurately learns complex variable relationships in pulp and paper manufacturing processes and yields a digital measure of product quality. Autonomous manufacturing using AI with machine learning allows for improved product quality, optimized use of raw materials and reduced water and energy consumption.

Deployed at St. Croix Tissue in Baileyville, Maine, OPTIX recently enabled the mill to accomplish something that was previously impossible. Using a closed-loop controller in conjunction with OPTIX quality parameter predictions, the mill was able to control its strength chemistry autonomously to ensure optimal chemical feed and adhere to target parameters.

Photo courtesy of St. Croix Tissue Photo courtesy of St. Croix Tissue

“OPTIX has shown that it can reasonably predict different lab-tested parameters,” said Devin Rose, technical manager at St. Croix Tissue. “We’ve used this prediction in a closed-loop controller and successfully reduced variation in the final product. As a result, we’re excited about the value of this program.”

Launched by Solenis in early 2019, the novel OPTIX platform is operational in nine paper mills throughout North America and Europe, with additional deployments in progress. AI-powered predictive analytics of key quality parameters allows for on-the-fly process improvement, real-time process insights and continuous chemical control leading to improved target adherence, improved product quality and substantial cost savings.

COVID-19 is accelerating the need for autonomous manufacturing as operators seek to improve operational efficiency without making significant cap-ex investments and limiting human interaction. As a result, there has been mounting interest in the OPTIX platform, which enables the application of autonomous control to extend well beyond strength chemistry.

“Solenis continues to deliver innovative solutions that solve the complex problems that exist in the pulp and paper industry,” said Andreas Türk, president, Eurasia, Solenis. “Our partnership with ProcessMiner enables us to uniquely deliver the cutting-edge artificial intelligence and machine learning technology required for real-time, predictive analytics and autonomous manufacturing. Our latest OPTIX offering, autonomous chemistry optimization, is another example of Solenis delivering the value our customers need to stay competitive.”

“Solenis has been the ideal partner for driving autonomous manufacturing in the pulp and paper industry, leveraging the technology we’ve developed,” said Karim Pourak, cofounder and CEO, ProcessMiner. “The deep domain expertise the Solenis team brings, coupled with our industry-leading data science team, has been a winning combination. We expect rapid adoption and mill expansion of the OPTIX platform in this industry as a result of our recent autonomous control success at St. Croix Tissue. With a shrinking workforce in manufacturing, AI is an investment that manufacturers need to consider in keeping up with demand and product quality service levels.”

For more details on OPTIX Applied Intelligence, please visit solenis.com/OPTIX.

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Effective since the July 14, 2020, Solenis LLC (“Solenis”) completed the acquisition of 100% of the outstanding shares of Poliquímicos, S.A. de C.V. (“Poliquímicos”).

2018 04 24 070924Headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico, Poliquímicos is a leading producer and supplier of specialized chemical solutions for water-intensive industries, including the pulp and paper markets in Mexico. The business will be integrated into Solenis as part of its direct-to-market strategy.

“The acquisition of Poliquímicos will enhance Solenis’ direct sales channel in the Mexican market and improve our production capabilities in the region,” said John Panichella, CEO, Solenis. “With more than 46 years of history in Mexico, we are thrilled to welcome the Poliquímicos team and are excited to provide them with the full suite of Solenis products to better serve our customers.”

“The strategic location of the Poliquímicos production facility, a strong position in the packaging market, along with a talented commercial team, provides Solenis the opportunity to better serve the Mexican market,” said José Armando Piñón Aguirre, vice president, Latin America, Solenis. “We will integrate the Poliquímicos’ business into Solenis during the next few months to ensure a seamless transition for customers in Mexico.”

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Effective February 28, 2020, Solenis signed an agreement to acquire the paper business of ChemSystems, a division of AECI Ltd. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2020.

2018 04 24 070924Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, ChemSystems produces and supplies specialized chemical solutions for water intensive industries, including the pulp, paper and tissue manufacturing industries in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. Until this acquisition, the business was Solenis’ pulp and paper specialty chemical distributor in Africa.

“This is an excellent opportunity to continue to consolidate our channel to market after the recent successful merger of BASF’s Paper and Water Chemicals business with Solenis.” said John Panichella, president and CEO, Solenis. “We have had an exceptional working relationship with ChemSystems for many years and this acquisition will allow Solenis to directly provide value to pulp, paper and tissue markets in South Africa.”

Mark Dytor, Chief Executive, AECI added, “Through ChemSystems, we have partnered with South Africa’s pulp and paper customers for many years.  Excellent relationships have been developed and I am certain that these will be enhanced further by Solenis.”

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As interest groups raise awareness about plastic waste, governments around the world are starting to ban various types of plastics, especially single-use packaging items. We all know the reasons behind this push: Plastic waste is filling our landfills and waterways and breaks down very slowly in the environment.

Ultimately, the impact will not be confined to items such as grocery bags and straws. Analysts expect the movement to extend to plastic bottles, disposable cups, food-service packaging and ready-meal containers. In fact, several major consumer brands, as well as a significant number of European retailers, have moved to reduce or eliminate their use of plastics in packaging. And more will certainly follow.

Renewed Focus on Paper Materials

In this new paradigm, the pulp and paper industry has an opportunity to rise to the challenge of providing more environmentally friendly fiber-based solutions to replace all those plastic straws, bottles, disposable cups and food containers. But before that happens, it’s important to address the foundational aspects of packaging production that will enable these products to be replaced with environmentally friendly alternatives, especially in food applications.

Made with Solenis Barrier Coatings technologyMade with Solenis Barrier Coatings technology

The Enabling Technologies

Almost anything, of course, is technically recyclable at a cost. But what makes a paper package most valuable in this new world is whether a material is repulpable. To this end, the goal is to replace paraffin wax or polyethylene (PE), fluorocarbon for grease barriers and the use of PE in cups and food-service applications. To achieve this goal, special formulations are required for paper packaging that act as a barrier to water, hot/cold liquids, greases and oils, moisture and water vapor—to name just a few. Suitable replacement formulations include barrier biowaxes used for different applications. Individual barrier products can also form a “system” consisting of one to three different coatings, each having different functions, with the final system design depending on the end producer’s requirements.

As the packaging industry moves toward fiber-based material for more sustainable solutions, there are some key issues to consider when it comes to paper material formulation.

Is it repulpable? Repulpability enables creation of a segregation system for post-consumer cups that can be repulped, where the fiber is recovered and reused to produce paper and paperboard products, perhaps even back into cups. The value of the fiber in these cups is very high, enough to make it economically feasible to develop the infrastructure needed to collect, segregate and recover these containers after use. Therefore, the barrier formulation should enable repulpability. This is not typically economically viable with PE-coated cups.

Is it compostable? The long-term objective, of course, is to recover the fiber. In the short term, if the material can be redirected to composting facilities – as opposed to landfills – this helps with consumer messaging and is a step forward for brand owners and the environment as well. As a result, fiber material with compostable barrier formulations have a significant advantage over PE products, which cannot be composted. However, this is still secondary to repulpability.

How is the formulation produced? This is a key point on sustainable sourcing, where many consumer brand owners have aspirational goals of using more than 50 percent sustainably sourced raw materials. Manufacturers of paper barrier coating formulations are seeking to minimize non-fossil fuel derived components and maximize renewably sourced raw materials. Some barrier solutions for example are 100% non-fossil based. 

Is the barrier formulation functional? Barrier formulations must meet the functional requirements of the material being replaced. These requirements include resistance to oil, grease and water in applications like hamburger wrap, and resistance to staining for on-the-go coffee cups. Many paper-based packages are designed for consumer appeal and branding, and involve printing, sealing, gluing, flexibility and elasticity. As a result, paper barrier formulations must still allow the same packaging functionality while meeting sustainability goals.

Does the formulation facilitate manufacturing? One of the biggest advantages with some barrier coating formulations is that you can apply them using paper machine coaters, off-machine coaters or even flexo/reverse gravure printing presses. With some barrier coatings you can even convert the coated board into cups on existing cup-making machines designed to work with PE. As a result, very little capital expenditure is required to utilize these barrier systems; paper manufacturers can run them now if they have a coater.

The good news is that awareness of fiber as a functional packaging alternative continues to gain ground. For example, in the Next Gen Cup Challenge, a global consortium that includes major food industry players recently issued a challenge to “identify and commercialize existing and future solutions for the single-use, hot and cold fiber cup system.” Solutions could include cup lids, sleeves and straws, as well as reusable and alternative delivery systems. Nearly 500 entrepreneurs, inventors and scientists from more than 50 countries, including a team from Solenis, responded enthusiastically with ideas and potential solutions. Solenis was recognized as one of 12 final winners and work to scale its proposed solution is underway.

Working together, the paper industry can make a difference in reducing plastic waste in the environment and supporting the circular economy in 2019 and beyond.

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Solenis has been named as one of only 12 winners in the NextGen Cup Challenge, a global innovation competition backed by giants of the food-service industry to redesign and create a widely recyclable and/or compostable fiber hot and cold to-go cup. The Challenge attracted nearly 500 entries from more than 50 countries.

Solenis received the award in the Innovative Cup Liners category for its TopScreen™ recyclable and compostable barrier coatings technology.

Solenis TopScreen barrier coatings are suitable for packaging applications that require specific liquid/moisture vapor barrier properties and can replace barriers composed of polyethylene (PE). In the same family are formulations designed to replace perfluorocarbon (PFC) in a variety of applications where grease resistance and moisture vapor barrier properties are required.

Solenis TopScreen™ recyclable and compostable barrier coatings technology replaces plastic liners for fiber to-go cups.Solenis TopScreen™ recyclable and compostable barrier coatings technology replaces plastic liners for fiber to-go cups.

TopScreen formulations are produced with a minimum or no fossil fuel components and a maximum of sustainably sourced raw materials. Ideal as a more sustainable and cost-effective barrier option for PE-free cups, Solenis TopScreen barrier coatings can be used to produce fully recyclable and repulpable paper and paperboard packaging. TopScreen barrier coatings can be applied on paper machine coaters or offline coating equipment, providing flexibility for cup makers and utilization of existing cup-making equipment. As a truly global materials supplier, Solenis is uniquely positioned to implement the TopScreen barrier coating solution for paper cups anywhere in the world.

More than 250 billion fiber to-go cups are used annually. The PE lining that keeps them from leaking also prevents them from being recycled or composted. Instead, they wind up in landfills or waterways, contributing to the growing plastics pollution problem.

The NextGen Cup Challenge was initiated by the NextGen Consortium, a multi-year partnership of leading food-service industry players convened by Closed Loop Partners to address single-use food packaging waste globally. 

“This is outstanding recognition for the great work done over the past several years by our research and development team,” said Larry Hutchinson, Solenis global market development manager for Consumer Board. “The demand for a more sustainable paper cup is growing worldwide and this award confirms that Solenis is among the leaders in providing an immediate and viable solution.”

About Solenis

Solenis is a leading global producer of specialty chemicals for water intensive industries, including the pulp, paper, oil and gas, chemical processing, mining, biorefining, power and municipal markets. The company’s product portfolio includes a broad array of process, functional and water treatment chemistries as well as state-of-the-art monitoring and control systems. These technologies are used by customers to improve operational efficiencies, enhance product quality, protect plant assets and minimize environmental impact. Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, the company has 41 manufacturing facilities strategically located around the globe and employs a team of approximately 5,200 professionals in 120 countries across five continents. For additional information about Solenis, please visit www.solenis.com.

About Closed Loop Partners
Closed Loop Partners (CLP) is an investment platform that invests in sustainable consumer goods, recycling and the development of the circular economy. Investors include many of the world’s largest consumer goods companies and family offices interested in investments that provide strong financials returns and tangible social impact. In 2018, CLP launched the Center for Circular Economy, a New York City-based collaboration center for innovators to commercialize products, services and technologies that are leading the transition from a linear take, make, waste economy to a restorative one in which materials are shared, re-used, and continuously cycled. Learn more at www.closedlooppartners.com

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Designed specifically for HP Indigo digital presses, the new imPress™ ID chemistries are up to eight times more efficient at generating print adhesion

Solenis, a leading global producer of specialty chemicals, has introduced a new line of imPress™ ID paper additives designed exclusively for HP Indigo digital presses. The new imPress™ ID chemistries are up to eight times more efficient at generating Indigo print adhesion. With these new additives, paper mills can efficiently and cost-effectively produce papers with a three-star rating for HP Indigo digital presses.

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“As digital printing continues to take market share from offset presses, the demand for papers optimized for digital printing systems will increase,” said Tom Hayden, Global Marketing Director, Printing and Writing. “Our imPress™ ID additives are very easy to run, so papermakers can diversify by quickly adding Indigo-approved grades to their portfolios. Mills that already produce Indigo grades can enjoy a number of additional benefits.”

A main benefit is improved runnability. With imPress™ ID paper additives, no changes are required to the size press or machine settings. The chemistry is non-charged, so it doesn’t form deposits, agglomerate or cause stickies-related issues. In addition, the new imPress™ ID products are exceptionally versatile and work well with optical brightening agents and other size press chemistries.

“Our researchers spent a great deal of time refining this product,” said Dan Varnell, Solenis Research Fellow. “The result is an innovative chemistry that dramatically increases the performance of the paper printed on Indigo presses."

In the past, polyethyleneimine (PEI) or poly(ethylene/acrylic acid) was used to promote Indigo image adhesion, but PEI resulted in yellowing issues and P(Et/AA) dispersions required special conditions. The Solenis imPress™ ID technology relies on thermodynamic attraction of the print ink to the paper treatment. Free energy drops as the ink and the treated paper interact with each other, resulting in more efficient adhesion.

Currently, imPress™ ID-115 and ID-120 are available in North America, and imPress™ ID-215 and ID-220 are available in Europe.

For more information about Solenis imPress™ ID paper additives and technology, visit www.solenis.com/imPress.

About Solenis

Solenis is a leading global producer of specialty chemicals for water intensive industries, including the pulp, paper, oil and gas, chemical processing, mining, biorefining, power and municipal markets. The company’s product portfolio includes a broad array of process, functional and water treatment chemistries as well as state-of-the-art monitoring and control systems. These technologies are used by customers to improve operational efficiencies, enhance product quality, protect plant assets and minimize environmental impact. Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, the company has 35 manufacturing facilities strategically located around the globe and employs a team of approximately 3,700 professionals in 118 countries across five continents. For additional information about Solenis, please visit solenis.com.

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On May 2, 2018, BASF and Solenis have signed an agreement to join forces by combining BASF’s paper wet-end and water chemicals business with Solenis. The combined entity with pro-forma sales of around €2.4 billion and around 5,000 employees in 2017 aims to deliver additional value for paper and water treatment customers. The goal is to create a customer-focused global solutions provider for the industry. For the paper industry, the product portfolio of the combined enterprise will cover the entire range of functional and process wet-end chemicals, solutions for the water cycle for paper mills, as well as comprehensive service capabilities. For the water treatment industry, the customers of the joint organization will benefit from Solenis’ high-quality service capabilities and BASF’s broad water treatment chemicals platform. Pending approval by the relevant authorities, closing is anticipated for the end of 2018 at the earliest. Financial terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.

2018 02 02 091647BASF will hold a 49% share of the combined entity that will operate under the Solenis name and be headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, USA. BASF will nominate three out of seven shareholder representatives of the joint entity that will continue to be led by current President and Chief Executive Officer John E. Panichella of Solenis. 51% of the shares will be held by funds managed by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.

“The transaction underlines BASF’s active portfolio management and enables us to share in the future success of this promising joint entity,” says Dr. Markus Kamieth, member of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE and responsible for the Performance Products segment.

The transaction comprises BASF’s global paper wet-end and water chemicals business with 2017 sales of around €800 million and around 1,300 employees globally. The transfer includes production sites and plants of the paper wet-end and water chemicals business in Bradford and Grimsby, UK; Suffolk, Virginia, USA; Altamira, Mexico; Ankleshwar, India, and Kwinana, Australia. BASF’s paper and water chemicals production plants strongly embedded in the Verbund in Ludwigshafen, Germany, and Nanjing, China, are not transferred, and will deliver products and raw materials to the combined entity under mid- to long-term supply agreements.

BASF’s paper coating chemicals portfolio is not part of the transaction.  

Strategic fit for future growth
“We will remain committed to the paper and water treatment industries through our 49% ownership of the combined entity and bring our excellent technologies, products, and production processes. Combined with Solenis’ service capabilities, we will create additional value for our customers. They will benefit from our joint innovation activities, complementary state-of-the-art product portfolios, and dedicated service and application support,” says Anup Kothari, President of BASF’s Performance Chemicals division.

“Together, we have a unique opportunity to create a customer-focused global specialty chemical company with an enhanced focus and expanded offerings. I am pleased that our cultures are closely aligned and that our companies share a strong common desire to create value for our customers. Together, as one team of experts, we will continue to strive towards excellence in innovation, sustainability and safety,” underlines John E. Panichella, CEO of Solenis.

Customers to benefit from complementary range of products and services
2018 04 24 070924Solenis is a global producer of specialty chemicals for water intensive industries, including the pulp, paper, oil and gas, chemical processing, mining, biorefining, power and municipal markets. The company’s product portfolio includes a broad array of process, functional and water treatment chemistries as well as state-of-the-art monitoring and control systems. Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, the company has 35 manufacturing facilities strategically located around the globe with approximately 3,700 employees in 118 countries.

BASF offers a comprehensive range of chemicals for the paper and water industry. Its paper chemicals portfolio comprises dry strength agents, fixing agents, retention and drainage aids, flocculants and coagulants for water management. Furthermore, BASF offers basic dyes, direct dyes, sizing agents, pigment preparations, wet strength agents and color developers for thermal paper. The water chemicals portfolio includes products used in the key processes of industrial and municipal water treatment. BASF’s paper and water chemicals business supplies chemicals to purify the raw water used to produce drinking water, to treat waste water streams and industrial process water, to protect cooling towers, boilers and desalination plants. The paper and water chemicals business is part of BASF’s Performance Chemicals division reported in the Performance Products segment.

BASF and Solenis will continue to operate as strictly independent companies until the completion of the transaction.

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