Today we visited a chemical manufacturing plant called Nouryon. Nouryon produces chemicals, specifically organic peroxides that are shipped off to customers that further use these chemicals to produce products like sunscreen or plastics. During this company visit, we learned a lot about Nueryon’s commitment to a sustainable future by using sustainable materials from sustainable sources as well as using sustainable energy. An example of this is their solar panels, as well as their sustainability department, where they put each chemical, they produce through rigorous testing to make sure it complies to the government’s sustainability laws. They test each chemical’s biodegrability, and its effect on the environment if it doesn’t do so.

I learned that Nouryon’s concept to customer is relatively simple, the customer comes to Nouryon with a problem, and a certain effect they want a chemical to have in the product they are producing, and Nouryon then stays in close contact during the manufacturing process of such a chemical so that they can develop a molecule that produces the desired effect of the customer.

I learned that the Netherland’s business practices are quite similar to the U.S. business practices, although admittedly I do not know a whole lot about the latter. Considering Nouryon has branches in the United States, the way both branches conduct business must be very similar. Even the same language is used.

Outside of business, I learned lots of the chemistry that Nouryon does. I learned that the type of molecule they use, the organic peroxide, are molecules that have carbon and a peroxide group, which is two oxygens bonded together. This makes the group easy to be removed from the molecule, which makes the entire molecule extremely reactive.