Celanese Corporation, formerly known as Hoechst Celanese, is an American technology and specialty materials company headquartered in
Irving,
Texas. A
Fortune 500
The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by '' Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...
corporation, the company is the world’s leading producer of
acetic acid
Acetic acid , systematically named ethanoic acid , is an acidic, colourless liquid and organic compound with the chemical formula (also written as , , or ). Vinegar is at least 4% acetic acid by volume, making acetic acid the main component ...
, producing about 1.95 million
tonnes per year, representing approximately 25% of global production.
Celanese is also the world's largest producer of
vinyl acetate monomer
Vinyl acetate is an organic compound with the formula CH3CO2CH=CH2. This colorless liquid is the precursor to polyvinyl acetate and ethene-vinyl acetate copolymers, important industrial polymers.
Production
The worldwide production capacity of v ...
(VAM).
Celanese operates 25 production plants and six research centers in 11 countries, mainly in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company owns and operates the world's three largest acetic acid plants: one in the
Clear Lake area of
Pasadena,
Texas, one on
Jurong Island
Jurong Island is an island located to the southwest of the main island of Singapore. It was formed from the amalgamation of seven offshore islands, the islands of Pulau Ayer Chawan, Pulau Ayer Merbau, Pulau Merlimau, Pulau Pesek, Pulau Pesek ...
in
Singapore, and a third in
Nanjing,
China.
History
In 1918, the American Cellulose & Chemical Manufacturing Company (known as Amcelle) was founded in
New York City by Swiss chemist
Camille Dreyfus.
The American Cellulose and Chemical Manufacturing Co. Ltd plant in
Cumberland, Maryland
Cumberland is a U.S. city in and the county seat of Allegany County, Maryland. It is the primary city of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 19,076. Located on the Potomac River, ...
, was set up during
World War I to produce cheaper fabric for airplane manufacturing. The plant location was chosen inland to protect against
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, p ...
attacks. It was also situated in proximity to a ready source of water at the
Potomac River
The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augu ...
and easy access to coal supplies and railroad lines. After a series of delays, production began on Christmas Day, 1924 with a series of
cellulose acetate
In biochemistry, cellulose acetate refers to any acetate ester of cellulose, usually cellulose diacetate. It was first prepared in 1865. A bioplastic, cellulose acetate is used as a film base in photography, as a component in some coatings, an ...
commercial fabrics and yarns intended as alternatives to
silk. The plant was closed in 1983, and was later torn down to provide a space for a new
state prison.
The company had introduced the word “Celanese,” a combination of “cellulose” and “ease” in 1925, remarking on the ease of cleaning and care of their acetate yarn, or artificial silk, fabrics. They officially took this name in 1927, becoming Celanese Corporation of America.
In 1947, Celanese started producing acetate fiber at its plant near
Ocotlán, Jalisco, Mexico. The plant was closed in 2019.
By 1958, Celanese had 13 domestic plants, three
research and development centers, some 30 groups of products, and approximately 13,000 employees.
Celanese commissioned
Edward Stone, a 20th century American
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
, in 1959 to build the “
Celanese House
Celanese Corporation, formerly known as Hoechst Celanese, is an American technology and specialty materials company headquartered in Irving, Texas. A Fortune 500 corporation, the company is the world’s leading producer of acetic acid, produ ...
,” a model home in
New Canaan, Connecticut, to showcase the company’s new materials and styles.
Celanese bought operations of
Imperial Chemicals Incorporated in 1982. This included the Fiber Industries Incorporated plant in
Salisbury, North Carolina, a part of
Invista since 2004.
In 1983, Celanese built a $20 million plant in
Rock Hill, South Carolina, to produce
polybenzimidazole
Polybenzimidazole (PBI, short for poly ,2’-(''m''-phenylen)-5,5’-bisbenzimidazole'') fiber is a synthetic fiber with a very high decomposition temperature. It does not exhibit a melting point, it has exceptional thermal and chemical stability ...
(PBI), a material used to fabricate high-performance protective apparel used in
firefighter's gear and
astronaut space suits.
Celanese
spun off its pharmaceutical business as
Celgene
Celgene Corporation is a pharmaceutical company that makes cancer and immunology drugs. Its major product is Revlimid (lenalidomide), which is used in the treatment of multiple myeloma, and also in certain anemias. The company is incorporated in ...
in 1986.
In 1987, Celanese Corporation was acquired by
Hoechst and merged with its American subsidiary, American Hoechst, to form Hoechst Celanese Corporation.
In 1998, in a $2.7 billion deal, Hoechst Celanese sold its Trevira division to a consortium between
Houston-based KoSa, a joint venture of
Koch Industries
Koch Industries, Inc. ( ) is an American privately held multinational conglomerate corporation based in Wichita, Kansas and is the second-largest privately held company in the United States, after Cargill. Its subsidiaries are involved in the ...
, IMASAB S.A., and
Grupo Xtra, both of Mexico.
Also in 1998, Hoechst combined most of its industrial chemical operations into a new company, Celanese AG.
In 1999, Hoechst spun off Celanese AG as a publicly traded German corporation,
cross-listed on both the
Frankfurt and
New York stock exchanges as "CZZ" and "CZ", respectively.
On 16 December 2003, the U.S.
private equity firm
A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including lev ...
Blackstone Group
Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate b ...
announced a
takeover offer
In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to t ...
for Celanese, after two years of wooing management. Shareholders formally approved the offer from Blackstone on 16 June 2004, and Blackstone completed the acquisition of Celanese AG. The company was delisted from the
New York Stock Exchange, and Blackstone changed the entity's name back to Celanese Corporation. Under Blackstone, a number of streamlining initiatives were undertaken, and several acquisitions were made.
On 21 January 2005, Celanese Corporation conducted an
initial public offering and became a publicly traded corporation traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "CE". When Blackstone sold the last of its shares in 2007, it had made five times what it had invested and it, and its co-investors collected a $2.9 billion profit.
In June 2009, the company sold its
polyvinyl alcohol
Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH, PVA, or PVAl) is a water-soluble synthetic polymer. It has the idealized formula H2CH(OH)sub>''n''. It is used in papermaking, textile warp sizing, as a thickener and emulsion stabilizer in polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) ad ...
(PVOH) business to
Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.
Celanese has a
process to make
ethanol from
natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon di ...
.
Class action lawsuits
In 1995, Hoechst Celanese was named along with
Shell Oil
Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Y ...
and
US Brass as a defendant in a class action lawsuit for $7 billion in both past and potential future damages for which they were accused of being liable because of leaks in their
polybutylene (PB) plumbing systems. The lawsuit alleged a complex scheme to mislead buyers into believing that PB plumbing systems were suitable for use as
potable water distribution systems and purportedly enjoying a lifetime of 50 years service. According to the lawsuit, scientists from the defendants allegedly reported that the PB plumbing systems would degrade even when exposed to low concentrations of chlorine typically found in municipal water systems. The lawsuit claimed that in spite of this knowledge, the defendants concealed the information and continued to market these products (Shell supplying PB resins to water pipe manufacturers and Hoechst Celanese providing acetal resins to manufacturers of pipe fittings) until approximately 1996.
In January 2014, a class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of the citizens of Cannon’s Campground, seeking relief from health and environmental dangers posed by groundwater and surface water contamination emanating from the Hoechst-Celanese manufacturing plant in
Spartanburg, South Carolina
Spartanburg is a city in and the seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city of Spartanburg has a municipal population of 38,732 as of the 2020 census, making it the 11th-largest city in the state. For a time, the Offic ...
. The lawsuit alleged the dumping of a number of toxic chemicals into local waters, which has diminished property values and caused a number of illnesses. Hoechst Celanese asked the courts to dismiss these charges as spurious, claiming that its discharges have not caused substantial harm to anyone or to the environment, and further asserting that a 3-year limit on
tort claims had expired, relieving the company of any responsibility for damages which might be eventually discovered.
Products
Acetyl intermediates
Acetyl intermediates is Celanese's largest segment, with a product range consisting of basic chemicals such as
acetic acid
Acetic acid , systematically named ethanoic acid , is an acidic, colourless liquid and organic compound with the chemical formula (also written as , , or ). Vinegar is at least 4% acetic acid by volume, making acetic acid the main component ...
,
acetic anhydride
Acetic anhydride, or ethanoic anhydride, is the chemical compound with the formula (CH3CO)2O. Commonly abbreviated Ac2O, it is the simplest isolable anhydride of a carboxylic acid and is widely used as a reagent in organic synthesis. It is a colo ...
, and
vinyl acetate
Vinyl acetate is an organic compound with the formula CH3CO2CH=CH2. This colorless liquid is the precursor to polyvinyl acetate and ethene-vinyl acetate copolymers, important industrial polymers.
Production
The worldwide production capacity of v ...
. Customers of acetyl intermediates and industrial specialties are in the chemical, paint and coatings, construction, and adhesive industries for
polymerization.
Advanced engineered materials
Advanced engineered materials offers
plastic polymers to customers in the automotive, electronics, telecommunications, and medical industries. Major products include engineered plastics for fuel system components (provided by
Ticona
Celanese Corporation, formerly known as Hoechst Celanese, is an American technology and specialty materials company headquartered in Irving, Texas. A Fortune 500 corporation, the company is the world’s leading producer of acetic acid, produc ...
, the engineering polymer business of Celanese), conveyor belts, electronics, safety systems, emissions filtration, and fluid handling. Polymer production is improved by the acquisition of SO.F.TER Group,
Forlì
Forlì ( , ; rgn, Furlè ; la, Forum Livii) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. It is the central city of Romagna.
The city is situated along the Via E ...
, in
Italy in 2016.
Consumer specialties
The food ingredients business
Nutrinova
Nutrinova is a global manufacturer of food constituents. It was formerly a division of Hoechst until 1997 when it was taken over by Celanese and adopted its current name.
The company is headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. It is a wholly owned aff ...
produces the high intensity sweetener Sunett (
acesulfame K), the
preservatives Nutrinova,
potassium sorbate
Potassium sorbate is the potassium salt of sorbic acid, chemical formula CH3CH=CH−CH=CH−CO2K. It is a white salt that is very soluble in water (58.2% at 20 °C). It is primarily used as a food preservative (E number 202). Potassium s ...
, and
sorbic acid
Sorbic acid, or 2,4-hexadienoic acid, is a natural organic compound used as a food preservative. It has the chemical formula and the structure . It is a colourless solid that is slightly soluble in water and sublimes readily. It was first isol ...
, and other food ingredients. Major end-use markets include beverages, confections, baked goods, and dairy products. In 2021, Celanese ranked 7th on FoodTalks' Global Top 20 Food Preservative Companies list.
Celanese is one of the world's largest producers of
cellulose acetate
In biochemistry, cellulose acetate refers to any acetate ester of cellulose, usually cellulose diacetate. It was first prepared in 1865. A bioplastic, cellulose acetate is used as a film base in photography, as a component in some coatings, an ...
. Acetate products are primarily used in
cigarette filters, as well as in the production of fashion apparel and
linings. Celanese also manufactures Clarifoil
cellulose acetate film
Cellulose acetate film, or safety film, is used in photography as a base material for photographic emulsions. It was introduced in the early 20th century by film manufacturers and intended as a safe film base replacement for unstable and highly ...
that is wood pulp based and certified biodegradable and compostable in home and industrial composting conditions.
Industrial specialties
Industrial specialties, using the
feedstock from acetyl intermediates, manufactures polymer and emulsions such as
polyvinyl acetate
Polyvinyl acetate (PVA, PVAc, poly(ethenyl ethanoate)), commonly known as wood glue, PVA glue, white glue, carpenter's glue, school glue, or Elmer's glue in the US, is a widely available adhesive used for porous materials like wood, paper, and ...
emulsions, and specialty chemicals as
ethylene vinyl acetate
Ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), also known as poly (ethylene-vinyl acetate) (PEVA), is the copolymer of ethylene and vinyl acetate. The weight percent of vinyl acetate usually varies from 10 to 40%, with the remainder being ethylene. There are thr ...
. Major end-use markets include
polyvinyl alcohol
Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH, PVA, or PVAl) is a water-soluble synthetic polymer. It has the idealized formula H2CH(OH)sub>''n''. It is used in papermaking, textile warp sizing, as a thickener and emulsion stabilizer in polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) ad ...
producers, paper, mortar and gypsum, textiles, paints, coatings, and adhesives manufacturers.
Advanced fuel technology
TCX Technology is a hydrocarbon-based ethanol production process developed and marketed by Celanese and launched in November 2010. Celanese researchers developed the TCX Technology to create a fuel that helps countries reduce their need to import oil and gas. Celanese plans to invest $700 million to build one-to-two plants in China and one in Texas that will produce TCX-based ethanol.
["Celanese faces U.S. road block on ethanol" Reuters Jun. 15, 2011]
Retrieved Sep. 5, 2020.
Retrieved Apr. 6, 2012.
References
*
External links
*
* Ernest Scheyder (May 11, 2010
"Interview-Celanese CEO Looks to Shake Up Product Line" Reuters* Paul Tate (May 4, 2010
"Dialogue: Innovating the Future" Manufacturing Executive* Wes Iversen (April 2010
"A Pragmatic Response to Climate-Change Regulation" Automation World* Lou Reade (March 25, 2010
{{authority control
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
American companies established in 1918
Chemical companies established in 1918
Chemical companies of the United States
Manufacturing companies based in Irving, Texas
2005 initial public offerings
1918 establishments in New York (state)