Today we again woke up early for a 7 am breakfast in the hotel. At 8:30, we got on the private bus and began driving to Demeter in order to visit the Nouryon site. The drive was an hour and a half and I slept throughout the entire trip in an extremely deep sleep.

We started off the day meeting Michel and Christina who planned the site visit for us. They took us into the cafeteria in order to show us a safety video and give us a presentation on the company. Christina led the presentation telling us about how the company makes chemicals and sells them to other companies in the agriculture and food industry, home and personal care, natural resources, paints and coatings, polymer specialties, and much more. This was eye opening because I did not realize just how many things these chemicals produced are included in like detergent, soaps, beer, and they are even an additive on the iPhone screen. It adds a whole different level to the supply chain. For some reason I kind of assumed that companies like Pantene created shampoos and conditioners with their own ingredients. Instead, they have to buy those ingredients from companies like Nouryon. While it’s obvious that they would have to buy the ingredients from a supplier, I guess I just never thought of it and made assumptions. I also found out that they have a site that is about 25 minutes from my house. We then learned about their sustainability initiatives. One of the main differences was how in Europe they have guidelines set by the EU which almost forces companies to invest in sustainability, the US does not. We got sandwiches for lunch and they were delicious. While eating I got to speak with Ian about many things and had a great conversation.

After lunch we were able to be given tours around the site. We started by being taken to the reactivity testing lab where we learned about the reactivity of the chemicals Nouryon produces. We got to see a controlled fire and explosion which was awesome. Their chemicals are highly reactive but have been edited to not catch fire easily. We then were taken into their organic and inorganic compound test lab. Here we learned about how they can identify certain compounds using various tests. What I found most interesting was the images from the electron scanner that were hung up like art around the lab. Finally, we saw their lab for testing detergents and soaps before heading back to the cafeteria. On the way back I again slept for the whole ride, the day before was a long day…

We had a short break at the hotel before hopping on the bus to go to a restaurant to meet and connect with some Pitt alumni currently living in Holland. Talking with everyone was very nice and so interesting. I was able to get some advice on possibly doing a semester abroad and almost everyone recommend I live abroad for at least one semester saying it is an experience I’ll never forget. After this trip so far, I can see why. After about two hours of talking with everyone we left the restaurant and got back to the hotel at around 9 o’clock.