Chemical Heritage: Solvay Marks Its 150th Anniversary

Solvay can be traced back to an accidental discovery made in 1861 by then-23-year-old Ernest Solvay. While working at his uncle’s lighting gas plant, the amateur chemist stumbled on a process for combining unwanted ammonia with sea salt and limestone to make soda ash.

Soda ash, or sodium carbonate, was the right product at the right time. Demand for the white powder ran high from rapidly industrializing European economies making glass, paper, and soap.

Still, between 1863, when the firm was founded, and 1865, it nearly went bankrupt. But by 1867 Solvay and his partners had advanced their process so it could displace the then-dominant Leblanc process, which made soda ash from limestone, sulfuric acid, and coal.

Few chemical firms with a long heritage continue in their original business as Solvay does. DuPont, more than 200 years old, no longer makes its first product, gunpowder. Bayer, which also turned 150 this year, no longer makes textile dyes. But Solvay thrives as a soda ash maker.

Of course, the company also does much more. Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, Solvay’s chief executive officer, attributes the firm’s longevity to a long commitment to science and innovation. In the early 1900s, Solvay sponsored a series of conferences to develop solutions to scientific problems of the day. Attendees included prominent scientists such as Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, and Max Planck.

Recently, the firm sponsored Solar Impulse, a solar-powered airplane that flew across the U.S. and Europe. Just as the early conferences were a “powerful symbol of what Solvay meant at the time,” Clamadieu says, today’s investment in Solar Impulse shows “how we continue to be focused on innovation and bringing breakthrough ideas to our society.”