Arkema history timeline Arkema History 1800s Arkema History 1940s Arkema History 1950s Arkema History 1960s Arkema History 1970s Arkema History 1980s Arkema History 1990s Arkema History 2000s Arkema History 2010s Arkema History 2020s
See Arkema's evolution from a salt company to an innovative and sustainable materials company. Use the arrow to scroll across the decades or view the decades in more detail below.
1850 Five Philadelphia Quakers establish the Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company to produce lye.
1908 Th. Goldschmidt of Germany and the American Can Company form a joint venture, Goldschmidt Detinning Company.
1918 Goldschmidt Company sells its U.S. holdings, which becomes Metal & Thermit, named for the Thermit® process that the company uses for welding.
1940 A division of the Rohm and Haas Company begins manufacturing Plexiglas® acrylic resins in Bristol, Pennsylvania.

1949 Pennsylvania Salt starts up a new plant in Calvert City, Kentucky, to produce hydrofluoric acid.
1953 Pennsylvania Salt starts up its Geneseo, New York, facility, which manufactures a wide range of organic peroxides.

 1955 Pennsylvania Salt acquires Index Chemical Company of Houston, Texas...
1956 Pennsylvania Salt enters the refrigeration and aerosol propellant markets.

H.D. Justi & Son, Inc., acquires the polymer and related dental products business of Wallace A. Erikson Company of Chicago, Illinois. The company reorganizes, changes its name to Specialty Resins, Inc., and relocates to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1957 Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company changes its name to Pennsalt Chemicals Corporation.

Specialty Resins, Inc. changes its name to Sartomer Resins, Inc.
1960 Pennsalt enters the plastics field with the development of Kynar® polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) resin.

 1962 Metal & Thermit becomes M&T Chemicals Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American Can Company.
1968 The Rohm and Haas Company begins manufacturing Plexiglas® acrylic resins in Louisville, Kentucky.

 1969 Wallace & Tiernan Inc. and Pennsalt Chemicals Corporation merge and become Pennwalt Corporation, which is a major supplier to the pharmaceutical and equipment industries.
1971 Rilsan Industrial, Inc., a subsidiary of Elf Aquitaine, opens a new plant in Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, to produce Rilsan® polyamide 11.

M&T introduces Durastrength® 200 impact modifier, which soon becomes the leading impact modifier in the rapidly growing rigid PVC siding and window profile markets.
1975 Pennwalt starts up a methyl and ethyl mercaptans plant in Beaumont, Texas, and becomes the world's leading producer of these chemical intermediates.

Pennwalt starts up the industry's first continuous process for manufacturing peroxydicarbonates at its plant in Geneseo, New York.
1977 Elf Aquitaine acquires M&T Chemicals Inc.

 1978 Pennwalt starts operations in Mexico by founding Petroquimica Pennwalt, S.A. de C.V.
1981 M&T Chemicals Inc. opens its Mobile, Alabama, plant to manufacture plastic additives.

Elf Aquitaine starts operations in Mexico as Quimica Franco Mexicana, S.A. de C.V.
1982 M&T Chemicals Inc. and Mitsubishi Rayon of Japan form a joint venture, establishing Metco North America to produce acrylic impact modifiers in Mobile, Alabama.

 1984 Elf Aquitaine forms Atochem Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary and maker of industrial and specialty chemicals.
1985 Operations begin in Matamoros, Mexico, for the production of Poly(methyl methacrylate) cast sheets or PMMA by Rohm and Haas.

 1987 Elf Atochem S.A. and Air Liquide S.A. begin hydrogen peroxide operations in...
1988 Paris-based Orkem acquires Sartomer, and names it Sartomer Company, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary.

 1989 Atochem Inc. purchases Racon Incorporated, operator of a refrigerants plant in Wichita, Kansas.
1990 Orkem, the parent of Sartomer Company, Inc., is split between Total S.A. and Elf Aquitaine as required by the French government. Sartomer becomes part of France-based Total S.A.

Atochem North America and Engelhard Corporation form M&T Harshaw, a metal-plating joint venture in Somerset, New Jersey.
1992 Atochem North America, Inc. changes its name to Elf Atochem North America, Inc.

Elf Atochem S.A. and Rohm and Haas form a global joint venture, AtoHaas, to produce and sell acrylic and polycarbonate sheet products and acrylic molding resins.
1993 Elf Atochem acquires Engelhard's interest in the M&T Harshaw joint venture and Schering's electroplating business. These businesses are combined to form Atotech.

 1997 Elf Atochem North America, Inc. and Nippon Shokubai of Japan form a joint venture, American Acryl, to produce acrylic acid in Pasadena, Texas.
1998 Elf Atochem S.A. acquires Rohm and Haas' share of AtoHaas. The new division is named Atoglas.

Elf Atochem acquires Air Liquide's share of the hydrogen peroxide joint venture Chemprox Chimie (formerly Oxychem Canada, Inc.).

Elf Atochem purchases DuPont's hydrogen peroxide plant in Memphis, Tennessee.
1999 TotalFina S.A. purchases 95 percent of the shares of Elf Aquitaine.
2000 TotalFina and Elf Aquitaine reorganize to form TotalFinaElf, the world's fourth-largest oil company. The chemical operations combine to create Atofina, and Elf Atochem North America becomes Atofina Chemicals, Inc.
2004 Total announces a plan to spin off a portion of the Atofina chemical business and unveils the new company's name: Arkema. Arkema Inc. is the company's subsidiary in North America.

Atoglas takes on a new name and becomes Altuglas International, a subsidiary of Arkema Group.
2006 On May 18, Arkema's IPO on the Paris stock exchange marks the official birth of the company.

 2008 Arkema acquires the blending and distribution assets of U.S.-based Odor Tech Inc...
2010 Arkema completes the acquisition of two businesses: Dow acrylic acid and esters plant, based in Pasadena, Texas, and its specialty latex business in North America.

 2011 Arkema completes the acquisition of Total's specialty resins businesses, which includes Cray Valley, Cook Composites & Polymers, and Sartomer.
2012 Arkema finalizes the divestiture of its tin stabilizer and catalyst businesses to PMC Group.

 2013 The company announces the successful start-up of its acrylic acid capacity expansion at its Clear Lake plant in Pasadena, Texas.
2014 Arkema's start-up of a methyl acrylate production facility in Clear Lake, Texas, strengthens the company's position in acrylics in the U.S.

 2015 Arkema acquires Bostik, the world's third-largest adhesives company...
2016 Arkema acquires Den Braven, including Siroflex, an adhesives producer based in Greenville, South Carolina.

 2017 Arkema's flagship Rilsan® polyamide 11 brand celebrates its 70th birthday.
2018 Bostik completes the acquisition of XL Brands, a leader in flooring adhesives in the U.S.

 2019 Arkema acquires ArrMaz, based in Mulberry, Florida, a leader in specialty surfactants for ...
2021 Arkema announces acquisition of Permoseal in South Africa, one of the leaders in adhesive solutions for woodworking, packaging, construction and DIY.

 2022 Arkema acquires Polimeros Especiales, a leading emulsion resins producer in Mexico.
2022 Arkema acquires Ashland's Performance Adhesives business, a leader in high performance adhesives in the United States.

 Arkema and Morrow Batteries sign a Memorandum of Understanding for the development, screening, and testing of novel electrolyte formulations for the next generation of high-voltage batteries.
2023 With the acquisition of Polytec PT, Arkema strengthens Bostik's product offering to serve the fast-growing batteries and electronics markets.

 Arkema finalized the divestment of Febex, a company specialized in phosphorus-based chemistry, to Belgian group Prayon.
2023 Arkema has its Top Employer certification renewed in 2023 in France, China, the United States and Brazil. This distinction evaluates the social climate and human resources practices within companies around the world.