It was sad to leave Amsterdam, but it was also exciting that today we were going to be visiting Nouryon. Nouryon is a company that produces and distributes specialty chemicals for use in the agriculture, electronics, and food industries. The company provides a range of products including polymer additives, organic peroxides, and metal alkyls. Nouryon also has a large focus on sustainability when it comes to developing their products and running their company, so it was a perfect business visit to incorporate into this trip.

After a long bus ride there, we arrived at Nouryon. As soon as we got there I could tell that the place was very professional and official. We entered a room and were first given a couple presentations on the history of the company and thoughts from a toxicologist on the current state of the profession and the company. My group then went to visit the biodegradation lab. Here, the scientists ensure that all of the materials that they are using are able to be dissolved or decomposed over time depending on where the material is used. They talked about tests they did to determine if materials are able to be decomposed within certain timeframes, and talked about the effects of non-biodegradable materials on the environment. It is much more sustainable to use biodegradable materials. The next lab we went to was the ecotoxicology lab where the scientist described all of the tests he does to ensure that materials are safe for animals and the environment in general. He used tests on fish, algae, and bacteria. These tests contribute to sustainability because it is much better for the world if the materials we use in products don’t harm the environment. The last lab we went to was the safety handling lab. This lab focused on the creation and handling of organic peroxides which can be very volatile substances. These substances need to be held in containers that can handle expanding. Sometimes these substances can cause explosions, so to test the containment of these substances, Nouryon made some total containment facilities. We were shown one of them. It was a large room with a circular door hatch that opened when a button was pressed. It was very cool that we got to see this. We were also shown past attempts at containing some organic peroxides. There were bent and malformed metal and plastic casings from failed attempts.

After another presentation about the company, we left Nouryon. Throughout their visit it was cool to learn about their commitment to a sustainable future. Many companies say that they try to be sustainable, but it was abundantly clear that Nouryon actually does it. A lot of their energy is from renewable sources, they have overall reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and much of their electricity consumption is from renewable sources as well. These facts as well as what we learned about the creation of their products and how they pay so much attention to their impact on the environment shows that they care about sustainability and leaving a better future for them as a company and people in general.