Chemical industry in alabama

Chemicals are the second-largest export in Alabama, totaling $2 billion in 2010. More than 9,500 Alabamians are employed in the chemical industry, including major companies such as DuPont, BASF, Occidental, Evonik and Olin.

Payroll for Alabama chemical companies in 2010 was $859 million; the average wage $90,484 – 49 percent higher than the average Alabama manufacturing wage.

Below is a sample of chemical companies successfully doing business in Alabama:

DUPONT

An international company operating in 90 countries, DuPont makes a variety of insecticides, fungicides and specialty chemicals at a 500-acre facility employing 225 in the south Alabama town of Axis. In 2008, the plant began production of rynaxypyr, the first new-generation insecticide. Production has increased 10-fold. In 2012, DuPont is expected to begin production at the Axis facility of a “next-generation” product, cyazypyr, offering plants increased protection from destructive insects.

SABIC INNOVATIVE PLASTICS

Although the name may say plastics, the $1.2 billion facility in central Alabama makes the Lexan brand of polycarbonate resin shipped worldwide in both resin and pellet form.

Customers include major automotive manufacturers such as Ford, GM and Toyota; the electronics industry (Apple, Microsoft and Sony); and the aerospace industry’s Boeing, Embraer and Bombardier.

About 300 employees generate an annual payroll of $40 million.  Maintenance, services and investment by Sabic adds $35 million each year to the Lowndes County economy.

Olin Corporation

A national leader in the manufacture of chlorine, caustic soda and industrial bleach – makes all three at its largest plant, located in the south Alabama town of McIntosh. End uses include pulp and paper, textiles, vinyl products, food processing, water treatment, and soap and cleaning products

The $700 million factory – part of Olin’s Chlor Alkali Products Division – sits on 250 acres on the banks of the Tombigbee River and employs 300 earning an annual payroll of $26.7 million.

Missouri-based Olin has invested between $15 million and $30 million for essential maintenance and upgrades at the plant built in 1952. Olin annually invests $85 million in the local McIntosh/Washington County community through the purchase of goods and services.

BASF

This German-based chemical giant operates two plants in Alabama with an annual payroll of $34 million. The McIntosh facility in Mobile County employs 451 with a payroll of $53 million to make:

  • Antioxidants to preserve plastics
  • Hindered amine light stabilizers in furniture and automotive coatings
  • Tinuvins to absorb damaging ultraviolet light in automotive finishes, photographic inks and outdoor stains
  • Stilbenics providing optical brighteners in laundry detergents to make clothes whiter and in photographic paper to make brighter images.

The Huntsville facility employs 457 for the production of emission catalysts for mobile and stationary source applications, including auto, industrial, carbon monoxide and ozone destruction catalysts.

 

ARKEMA

Philadelphia-based Arkema makes a variety of chemical additives in 70,000 square feet of production space in the south Alabama town of Axis.

The $200 million plant employs 115 Alabamians, with 20 full-time contractors, to make heat stabilizers added to PVC to slow color development during processing to extend product life. Also manufactured are impact modifiers added to increase PVC strength.

These Alabama-made chemicals are used in hair dryers, plastic plumbing piping, vinyl siding, window frames, gutters and plastic bottles. Customers include Dow, Nalco, Certainteed, Polyone and Georgia Gulf.