DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by
French-American chemist and industrialist
Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in the development of Delaware and first arose as a major supplier of gunpowder. DuPont developed many
polymer
A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part")
is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...
s such as
Vespel
Vespel is the trademark of a range of durable high-performance polyimide-based plastics made by DuPont. The one shown in the structure on the right was the first to be commercialized.
Characteristics and applications
Vespel is mostly used in ...
,
neoprene
Neoprene (also polychloroprene) is a family of synthetic rubbers that are produced by polymerization of chloroprene.Werner Obrecht, Jean-Pierre Lambert, Michael Happ, Christiane Oppenheimer-Stix, John Dunn and Ralf Krüger "Rubber, 4. Emulsion R ...
,
nylon
Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic.
Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from petro ...
,
Corian
Corian is a brand of solid surface material created by DuPont. Its primary use is as a countertop and benchtop surface, though it has many other applications. It is composed of acrylic polymer and alumina trihydrate (ATH), a material derive ...
,
Teflon
Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene that has numerous applications. It is one of the best-known and widely applied PFAS. The commonly known brand name of PTFE-based composition is Teflon by Chemou ...
,
Mylar
BoPET (biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate) is a polyester film made from stretched polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and is used for its high tensile strength, chemical and dimensional stability, transparency, reflectivity, gas and aro ...
,
Kapton
Structure of poly-oxydiphenylene-pyromellitimide
Kapton insulating pads for mounting electronic parts on a heat sink
Kapton is a polyimide film used in flexible printed circuits (flexible electronics) and space blankets, which are used on spac ...
,
Kevlar
Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s a ...
, Zemdrain,
M5 fiber
M5 fiber (polyhydroquinone-diimidazopyridine or PIPD) is a high-strength synthetic fiber first developed by the Dutch chemical firm AkzoNobel. It is produced in the United States by the Magellan Systems International, which became a division of DuP ...
,
Nomex
Nomex is a flame-resistant meta-aramid material developed in the early 1960s by DuPont and first marketed in 1967.
Properties
Nomex and related aramid polymers are related to nylon, but have aromatic backbones, and hence are more rigid and mo ...
,
Tyvek
Tyvek () is a brand of synthetic flashspun high-density polyethylene fibers. The name "Tyvek" is a registered trademark of the American multinational chemical company DuPont, which discovered and commercialized Tyvek in the late 1950s and early ...
,
Sorona
Sorona is DuPont de Nemours, Inc.'s brand of Triexta, a subclass of polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT) named and commercialized in 2000. The fibers are soft and stain-resistant while exhibiting high strength and stiffness.
Sorona is a co-polym ...
,
Corfam
Artificial leather, also called synthetic leather, is a material intended to substitute for leather in upholstery, clothing, footwear, and other uses where a leather-like finish is desired but the actual material is cost
prohibitive or unsuitab ...
and
Lycra
Spandex, Lycra, or elastane is a synthetic fiber known for its exceptional elasticity. It is a polyether-polyurea copolymer that was invented in 1958 by chemist Joseph Shivers at DuPont's Benger Laboratory in Waynesboro, Virginia, US.
The g ...
in the 20th century, and its scientists developed many chemicals, most notably
Freon
Freon ( ) is a registered trademark of the Chemours Company and generic descriptor for a number of halocarbon products. They are stable, nonflammable, low toxicity gases or liquids which have generally been used as refrigerants and as aerosol prop ...
(
chlorofluorocarbon
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) are fully or partly halogenated hydrocarbons that contain carbon (C), hydrogen (H), chlorine (Cl), and fluorine (F), produced as volatile derivatives of methane, ethane, and prop ...
s), for the
refrigerant
A refrigerant is a working fluid used in the heat pump and refrigeration cycle, refrigeration cycle of air conditioning systems and heat pumps where in most cases they undergo a repeated phase transition from a liquid to a gas and back again. Ref ...
industry. It also developed
synthetic pigment
A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic compou ...
s and paints including
ChromaFlair
ChromaFlair is a pigment used in paint systems, primarily for automobiles. When the paint is applied, it changes color depending on the light source and viewing angle. It was created at JDS Uniphase and is used by DuPont and PPG.
Names
The pai ...
.
In 2015, DuPont and the
Dow Chemical Company
The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world.
Dow manufactures plastic ...
agreed to a reorganization plan in which the two companies would merge and split into three. As a merged entity, DuPont simultaneously acquired Dow and renamed itself to DowDuPont on August 31, 2017, and after 18 months spin off the merged entity's material science divisions into a new corporate entity bearing Dow Chemical's name and
agribusiness
Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy,
in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise.
The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit w ...
divisions into the newly-created
Corteva
Corteva, Inc. (also known as Corteva Agriscience) is a major American agricultural chemical and seed company that was the agricultural unit of DowDuPont prior to being spun off as an independent public company.
DowDuPont announced the Corteva na ...
; DowDuPont reverted its name to DuPont and kept the specialty products divisions. Prior to the spinoffs it was the world's largest chemical company in terms of sales. The merger has been reported to be worth an estimated $130 billion.
The present DuPont, as prior to the merger, is headquartered in
Wilmington,
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
, in the state
where it is incorporated.
History
1802 to 1902 – First Century of Business
DuPont was founded in 1802 by
Éleuthère Irénée du Pont
Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours (; ; 24 June 1771 – 31 October 1834) was a French-American chemist and industrialist who founded the gunpowder manufacturer E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. His descendants, the du Pont family, have ...
, using capital raised in France and gunpowder machinery imported from France. He started the company at the
Eleutherian Mills
From 1802 to 1921, Eleutherian Mills was a gunpowder mill site used for the manufacture of explosives founded by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, which grew into the DuPont company. The name also refers to the house on the hill above the mills, whi ...
, on the
Brandywine Creek, near
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...
, two years after du Pont and his family left France to escape the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
and religious persecution against
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
Protestants. The company began as a manufacturer of gunpowder, as du Pont noticed that the industry in North America was lagging behind Europe. The company grew quickly, and by the mid-19th century had become the largest supplier of gunpowder to the
United States military
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
, supplying one-third to one-half the powder used by the
Union Army
During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...
during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
. The Eleutherian Mills site is now a museum and a
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
.
1902 to 1912 – First major expansion
DuPont continued to expand, moving into the production of
dynamite
Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...
and
smokeless powder
Finnish smokeless powderSmokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to gunpowder ("black powder"). The combustion products are mainly gaseous, compared to a ...
. In 1902, DuPont's president,
Eugene du Pont
Eugène du Pont (November 16, 1840 – January 28, 1902) was an American businessman who served as the first head of the modern-day DuPont corporation.
Life and education
Du Pont was born on November 16, 1840 at Hagley House in New Castle C ...
, died, and the surviving partners sold the company to three great-grandsons of the original founder.
Charles Lee Reese was appointed as director and the company began centralizing their research departments. The company subsequently purchased several smaller chemical companies; in 1912 these actions generated government scrutiny under the
Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 (, ) is a United States antitrust law which prescribes the rule of free competition among those engaged in commerce. It was passed by Congress and is named for Senator John Sherman, its principal author.
Th ...
. The courts declared that the company's dominance of the explosives business constituted a monopoly and ordered
divestment
In finance and economics, divestment or divestiture is the reduction of some kind of asset for financial, ethical, or political objectives or sale of an existing business by a firm. A divestment is the opposite of an investment. Divestiture is a ...
. The court ruling resulted in the creation of the
Hercules Powder Company
Hercules, Inc. was a chemical and munitions manufacturing company based in Wilmington, Delaware, United States, incorporated in 1912 as the Hercules Powder Company following the breakup of the DuPont explosives monopoly by the U.S. Circuit ...
(later
Hercules Inc.
Hercules, Inc. was a chemical and munitions manufacturing company based in Wilmington, Delaware, United States, incorporated in 1912 as the Hercules Powder Company following the breakup of the DuPont explosives monopoly by the U.S. Circuit ...
and now part of
Ashland Inc.
Ashland Global Specialty Chemicals Inc. is an American chemical company which operates in more than 100 countries. Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, the company traces its roots back to the city of Ashland, Kentucky, where it was headquarter ...
) and the
Atlas Powder Company
Atlas Powder Company was an American explosives and chemicals company. It was one of the two companies that emerged out of a court-ordered breakup of the explosives monopoly of Du Pont Powder Company, the explosives and gunpowder company founded ...
(purchased by
Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain.
It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926.
Its headquarters were at M ...
(ICI) and now part of
AkzoNobel
Akzo Nobel N.V., stylized as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational company which creates paints and performance coatings for both industry and consumers worldwide. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countries, ...
). At the time of divestment, DuPont retained the single-base
nitrocellulose
Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...
powders, while Hercules held the double-base powders combining nitrocellulose and
nitroglycerine
Nitroglycerin (NG), (alternative spelling of nitroglycerine) also known as trinitroglycerin (TNG), nitro, glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), or 1,2,3-trinitroxypropane, is a dense, colorless, oily, explosive liquid most commonly produced by nitrating ...
. DuPont subsequently developed the
Improved Military Rifle (IMR) Improved military rifle propellants are tubular nitrocellulose propellants evolved from World War I through World War II for loading military and commercial ammunition and sold to civilians for reloading rifle ammunition for hunting and target shoot ...
line of
smokeless powder
Finnish smokeless powderSmokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to gunpowder ("black powder"). The combustion products are mainly gaseous, compared to a ...
s.
In 1910, DuPont published a brochure entitled "Farming with Dynamite". The pamphlet was instructional, outlining the benefits to using their dynamite products on stumps and various other obstacles that would be easier to remove with dynamite as opposed to other more conventional and inefficient means.
DuPont also established two of the first industrial laboratories in the United States, where they began the work on
cellulose
Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of β(1→4) linked D-glucose units. Cellulose is an important structural component of the primary cell wall ...
chemistry,
lacquer
Lacquer is a type of hard and usually shiny coating or finish applied to materials such as wood or metal. It is most often made from resin extracted from trees and waxes and has been in use since antiquity.
Asian lacquerware, which may be ca ...
s and other non-explosive products.
DuPont Central Research
In 1957, the research organization of the Chemicals Department of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company was renamed Central Research Department, beginning the history of the premier scientific organization within DuPont and one of the foremost indus ...
was established at the
DuPont Experimental Station
The DuPont Experimental Station is the largest research and development facility of DuPont. Located on the banks of the Brandywine Creek in Wilmington, Delaware, it is home to some of the most important discoveries of the modern chemical indus ...
, across the
Brandywine Creek from the original powder mills.
1913 to 1919 – Investments into General Motors
In 1914,
Pierre S. du Pont
Pierre Samuel du Pont (; January 15, 1870 – April 4, 1954) was an American entrepreneur, businessman, philanthropist and member of the prominent du Pont family.
He was president of DuPont from 1915 to 1919, and served on its board of director ...
invested in the fledgling automobile industry, buying stock in
General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
(GM). The following year he was invited to be on GM's board of directors and would eventually be appointed the company's chairman. The DuPont company would assist the struggling automobile company further with a $25 million purchase of GM stock ($ in dollars ). In 1920, Pierre S. du Pont was elected president of General Motors. Under du Pont's leadership, GM became the number one automobile company in the world. However, in 1957, because of DuPont's influence within GM, further action under the
Clayton Antitrust Act
The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 (, codified at , ), is a part of United States antitrust law with the goal of adding further substance to the U.S. antitrust law regime; the Clayton Act seeks to prevent anticompetitive practices in their incipie ...
forced DuPont to divest its shares of General Motors.
1920 to 1940 – Major breakthroughs
In the 1920s, DuPont continued its emphasis on
materials science, hiring
Wallace Carothers
Wallace Hume Carothers (; April 27, 1896 – April 29, 1937) was an American chemist, inventor and the leader of organic chemistry at DuPont, who was credited with the invention of nylon.
Carothers was a group leader at the DuPont Experiment ...
to work on
polymers
A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part")
is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic an ...
in 1928. Carothers invented
neoprene
Neoprene (also polychloroprene) is a family of synthetic rubbers that are produced by polymerization of chloroprene.Werner Obrecht, Jean-Pierre Lambert, Michael Happ, Christiane Oppenheimer-Stix, John Dunn and Ralf Krüger "Rubber, 4. Emulsion R ...
, a
synthetic rubber
A synthetic rubber is an artificial elastomer. They are polymers synthesized from petroleum byproducts. About 32-million metric tons of rubbers are produced annually in the United States, and of that amount two thirds are synthetic. Synthetic rubbe ...
; the first
polyester
Polyester is a category of polymers that contain the ester functional group in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include natural ...
super
polymer
A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part")
is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...
; and, in 1935,
nylon
Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic.
Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from petro ...
. The invention of
Teflon
Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene that has numerous applications. It is one of the best-known and widely applied PFAS. The commonly known brand name of PTFE-based composition is Teflon by Chemou ...
followed a few years later and has since been proven responsible for health problems in those exposed to the chemical through manufacturing and home use. DuPont introduced
phenothiazine
Phenothiazine, abbreviated PTZ, is an organic compound that has the formula S(C6H4)2NH and is related to the thiazine-class of heterocyclic compounds. Derivatives of phenothiazine are highly bioactive and have widespread use and rich history. T ...
as an
insecticide
Insecticides are substances used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and by consumers. Insecticides are claimed to b ...
in 1935.
1941 to 1945 – World War II
DuPont ranked 15th among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts. As the inventor and manufacturer of
nylon
Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic.
Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from petro ...
, DuPont helped produce the raw materials for
parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...
s, powder bags, and
tire
A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineering), t ...
s.
DuPont also played a major role in the
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...
in 1943, designing, building and operating the
Hanford plutonium
Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibi ...
producing plant in
Hanford, Washington
Hanford was a small agricultural community in Benton County, Washington, United States. It and White Bluffs, Washington, White Bluffs were depopulated in 1943 in order to make room for the nuclear production facility known as the Hanford Site. The ...
. In 1950 DuPont also agreed to build the
Savannah River Plant
The Savannah River Site (SRS) is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reservation in the United States in the state of South Carolina, located on land in Aiken, Allendale, and Barnwell counties adjacent to the Savannah River, southeast of Augus ...
in
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
as part of the effort to create a
hydrogen bomb
A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...
.
DuPont was one of an estimated 150 American companies that provided
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
with patents, technology and material resources that proved crucial to the
German war effort. DuPont maintained business connections with various corporations in the Third Reich from 1933 until 1943 when all of DuPont's assets in Germany were seized by the Nazi government along with those of all other American companies.
Irénée du Pont
Irénée du Pont I (December 21, 1876 – December 19, 1963) was an American businessman, president of the DuPont company and head of the Du Pont trust.
Early life
Irénée du Pont I was born on December 21, 1876, in New Castle, Delaware, the so ...
, a descendant of Éleuthère Irénée du Pont and the president of the company during the buildup to World War II, was also a financial supporter of Nazi führer
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
and keenly followed Hitler since the 1920s.
1950 to 1970 – Space Age developments
After the war, DuPont continued its emphasis on new materials, developing
Mylar
BoPET (biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate) is a polyester film made from stretched polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and is used for its high tensile strength, chemical and dimensional stability, transparency, reflectivity, gas and aro ...
,
Dacron
Polyethylene terephthalate (or poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET, PETE, or the obsolete PETP or PET-P), is the most common thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in fibres for clothing, containers for liquids and foods ...
,
Orlon
Acrylic fibers are synthetic fibers made from a polymer ( polyacrylonitrile) with an average molecular weight of ~100,000, about 1900 monomer units. For a fiber to be called "acrylic" in the US, the polymer must contain at least 85% acrylonitr ...
, and
Lycra
Spandex, Lycra, or elastane is a synthetic fiber known for its exceptional elasticity. It is a polyether-polyurea copolymer that was invented in 1958 by chemist Joseph Shivers at DuPont's Benger Laboratory in Waynesboro, Virginia, US.
The g ...
in the 1950s, and
Tyvek
Tyvek () is a brand of synthetic flashspun high-density polyethylene fibers. The name "Tyvek" is a registered trademark of the American multinational chemical company DuPont, which discovered and commercialized Tyvek in the late 1950s and early ...
,
Nomex
Nomex is a flame-resistant meta-aramid material developed in the early 1960s by DuPont and first marketed in 1967.
Properties
Nomex and related aramid polymers are related to nylon, but have aromatic backbones, and hence are more rigid and mo ...
,
Qiana,
Corfam
Artificial leather, also called synthetic leather, is a material intended to substitute for leather in upholstery, clothing, footwear, and other uses where a leather-like finish is desired but the actual material is cost
prohibitive or unsuitab ...
, and
Corian
Corian is a brand of solid surface material created by DuPont. Its primary use is as a countertop and benchtop surface, though it has many other applications. It is composed of acrylic polymer and alumina trihydrate (ATH), a material derive ...
in the 1960s.
DuPont has been the key company behind the development of modern
body armor
Body armor, also known as body armour, personal armor or armour, or a suit or coat of armor, is protective clothing designed to absorb or deflect physical attacks. Historically used to protect military personnel, today it is also used by variou ...
. In the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
DuPont's ballistic nylon was used by
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
's
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
to make
flak jacket
The two components of an obsolete British military flak vest. On the left, the nylon vest. On the right, the several layers of ballistic nylon that provide the actual protection
A flak jacket or flak vest is a form of body armor. A flak jacke ...
s. With the development of
Kevlar
Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s a ...
in the 1960s, DuPont began tests to see if it could resist a lead bullet. This research would ultimately lead to the
bullet-resistant vests that are used by police and military units.
1981 to 1999 – Conoco holdings
In 1981, DuPont acquired
Conoco Inc.
Conoco Inc. ( ) was an American oil and gas company that operated from 1875 until 2002, when it merged with Phillips Petroleum to form ConocoPhillips. Founded by Isaac Elder Blake in 1875 as the "Continental Oil and Transportation Company". Cur ...
, a major American oil and gas producing company, which gave it a secure source of petroleum feedstocks needed for the manufacturing of many of its fiber and plastics products. The acquisition, which made DuPont one of the top ten U.S.-based petroleum and natural gas producers and refiners, came about after a bidding war with the giant
distillery
Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heati ...
Seagram Company Ltd.
The Seagram Company Ltd. (which traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Originally a distiller of Canadian whisky based in Waterloo, Ontario, it was once (in the 1990s) the lar ...
Seagram became DuPont's largest single shareholder, with four seats on the board of directors. On April 6, 1995, after being approached by Seagram Chief Executive Officer
Edgar Bronfman Jr.
Edgar Miles Bronfman Jr. (born May 16, 1955) is an American businessman who currently serves as a Managing Partner at Accretive LLC, a private equity firm focused on creating and investing in technology companies. He previously served as CEO of ...
, DuPont announced a deal in which the company would buy back all the shares owned by Seagram.
In 1999, DuPont sold all of its shares of Conoco, which merged with
Phillips Petroleum Company
Phillips Petroleum Company was an American oil company incorporated in 1917 that expanded into petroleum refining, marketing and transportation, natural gas gathering and the chemicals sectors. It was Phillips Petroleum that first found oil in the ...
. DuPont acquired the
Pioneer Hi-Bred
Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. is a U.S.-based producer of seeds for agriculture. They are a major producer of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), including genetically modified crops with insect and herbicide resistance.
As of 2019, Pi ...
agricultural seed company in 1999.
2000 to 2015 – Further growth, sales, and spinoff of Chemours
DuPont described itself as a global science company that employs more than 60,000 people worldwide and has a diverse array of product offerings. The company ranks 86th in the
Fortune 500
The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...
on the strength of nearly $36 billion in revenues, $4.848 billion in profits in 2013. In April 2014, ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' ranked DuPont 171st on its Global 2000, the listing of the world's top public companies.
DuPont businesses are organized into the following five categories, known as marketing "platforms": Electronic and Communication Technologies, Performance Materials, Coatings and Color Technologies, Safety and Protection, and Agriculture and Nutrition. The agriculture division,
DuPont Pioneer
Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. is a U.S.-based producer of seeds for agriculture. They are a major producer of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), including genetically modified crops with insect and herbicide resistance.
As of 2019, Pi ...
, makes and sells
hybrid seed In agriculture and gardening, hybrid seed is produced by cross-pollinated plants. Hybrid seed production is predominant in modern agriculture and home gardening. It is one of the main contributors to the dramatic rise in agricultural output during ...
and
genetically modified seed
Genetically modified plants have been engineered for scientific research, to create new colours in plants, deliver vaccines, and to create enhanced crops. Plant genomes can be engineered by physical methods or by use of ''Agrobacterium'' for the ...
, some of which produces
genetically modified food
Genetically modified foods (GM foods), also known as genetically engineered foods (GE foods), or bioengineered foods are foods produced from organisms that have had changes introduced into their DNA using the methods of genetic engineering. Gene ...
. Genes engineered into their products include
LibertyLink LibertyLink is a BASF-owned brand of genes for use in agriculture providing tolerance to Liberty herbicide and glufosinate (a.k.a. Liberty or Basta). The genes were developed by Bayer CropScience, before being sold to BASF Ag in late 2017. LibertyL ...
, which provides resistance to Bayer's
Ignite Herbicide
Glufosinate (also known as phosphinothricin and often sold as an ammonium salt) is a naturally occurring broad-spectrum herbicide produced by several species of ''Streptomyces'' soil bacteria. Glufosinate is a non-selective, contact herbicide, w ...
/Liberty herbicides; the Herculex I Insect Protection gene, which provides protection against various insects; the Herculex RW insect protection trait, which provides protection against other insects; the YieldGard Corn Borer gene, which provides resistance to another set of insects; and the Roundup Ready Corn 2 trait that provides crop resistance against
glyphosate
Glyphosate (IUPAC name: ''N''-(phosphonomethyl)glycine) is a broad-spectrum Herbicide, systemic herbicide and Crop desiccation, crop desiccant. It is an organophosphorus compound, specifically a phosphonate, which acts by inhibiting the plan ...
herbicides.
In 2010, DuPont Pioneer received approval to start marketing Plenish soybeans, which contain "the highest oleic acid content of any commercial soybean product, at more than 75 percent. Plenish provides a product with no trans fat, 20 percent less saturated fat than regular soybean oil, and more stable oil with greater flexibility in food and industrial applications." Plenish is genetically engineered to "block the formation of enzymes that continue the cascade downstream from oleic acid (that produces saturated fats), resulting in an accumulation of the desirable monounsaturated acid."
In October 2001, the company sold its pharmaceutical business to
Bristol Myers Squibb
The Bristol Myers Squibb Company (BMS) is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. Headquartered in New York City, BMS is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies and consistently ranks on the ''Fortune'' 500 list of the lar ...
for $7.798 billion.
In 2002, the company sold the Clysar(R) business to
Bemis Company
Bemis Company, Inc. was a global manufacturer of flexible packaging products (ranging from self-venting cook-in-bag packaging and retort packaging for shelf-stable products, to vacuum packaging for meat products and puncture-resistant, sterile me ...
for $143 million.
In 2004, the company sold its textiles business, which included some of its best-known brands such as
Lycra
Spandex, Lycra, or elastane is a synthetic fiber known for its exceptional elasticity. It is a polyether-polyurea copolymer that was invented in 1958 by chemist Joseph Shivers at DuPont's Benger Laboratory in Waynesboro, Virginia, US.
The g ...
(
Spandex
Spandex, Lycra, or elastane is a synthetic fiber known for its exceptional elasticity. It is a polyether-polyurea copolymer that was invented in 1958 by chemist Joseph Shivers at DuPont's Benger Laboratory in Waynesboro, Virginia, US.
The ge ...
),
Dacron
Polyethylene terephthalate (or poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET, PETE, or the obsolete PETP or PET-P), is the most common thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in fibres for clothing, containers for liquids and foods ...
polyester,
Orlon
Acrylic fibers are synthetic fibers made from a polymer ( polyacrylonitrile) with an average molecular weight of ~100,000, about 1900 monomer units. For a fiber to be called "acrylic" in the US, the polymer must contain at least 85% acrylonitr ...
acrylic,
Antron
Antron ( grc, Ἀντρών) or Antrones (Ἀντρῶνες)Demosthenes ''Phil.'' iv. p. 133, Reiske. was a town and polis (city-state) of ancient Thessaly in the district Achaea Phthiotis, at the entrance of the Maliac Gulf, and opposite Oreus ...
nylon and
Thermolite, to
Koch Industries
Koch Industries, Inc. ( ) is an American privately held multinational conglomerate corporation based in Wichita, Kansas and is the second-largest privately held company in the United States, after Cargill. Its subsidiaries are involved in th ...
.
In 2011, DuPont was the largest producer of
titanium dioxide
Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium(IV) oxide or titania , is the inorganic compound with the chemical formula . When used as a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6 (PW6), or CI 77891. It is a white solid that is insolubl ...
in the world, primarily provided as a white pigment used in the
paper industry
The pulp and paper industry comprises companies that use wood as raw material and produce pulp, paper, paperboard and other cellulose-based products.
Manufacturing process
The pulp is fed to a paper machine where it is formed as a paper web an ...
.
DuPont has 150 research and development facilities located in China, Brazil, India, Germany, and Switzerland, with an average investment of $2 billion annually in a diverse range of technologies for many markets including agriculture, genetic traits, biofuels, automotive, construction, electronics, chemicals, and industrial materials. DuPont employs more than 10,000 scientists and engineers around the world.
On January 9, 2011, DuPont announced that it had reached an agreement to buy Danish company
Danisco
Danisco A/S is a Danish bio-based company with activities in food production, enzymes and other bioproducts as well as a wide variety of pharmaceutical grade excipients. It was formed in 1989 from the largest Danish industrial merger ever of th ...
for US$6.3 billion. On May 16, 2011, DuPont announced that its tender offer for Danisco had been successful and that it would proceed to redeem the remaining shares and delist the company.
On May 1, 2012, DuPont announced that it had acquired from
Bunge full ownership of the
Solae joint venture, a soy-based ingredients company. DuPont previously owned 72 percent of the joint venture while Bunge owned the remaining 28 percent.
In February 2013, DuPont Performance Coatings was sold to the
Carlyle Group
The Carlyle Group is a multinational private equity, alternative asset management and financial services corporation based in the United States with $376 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, real assets, and pri ...
and rebranded as
Axalta Coating Systems
Axalta Coating Systems, Ltd., also known as simply Axalta, is an American company specializing in coatings in a wide variety of industrial applications, materials and sectors, such as for example automotive paints.
The company is based in Philad ...
.
In October 2013, DuPont announced that it was planning to spin off its Performance Chemicals business into a new publicly traded company in mid-2015. The company filed its initial Form 10 with the
SEC in December 2014 and announced that the new company would be called
The Chemours Company
Chemours (, ) is an American chemical company that was founded in July 2015 as a spin-off from DuPont. It has its corporate headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, United States.
History
In October 2013, DuPont announced that it was planning to ...
. The spin-off to DuPont shareholders was completed on July 1, 2015, and Chemours stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on the same date. DuPont will focus on production of
GMO seeds, materials for
solar panel
A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...
s, and alternatives to fossil fuels. Chemours becomes responsible for the cleanup of 171 former DuPont sites, which DuPont says will cost between $295 million and $945 million.
In October 2015, DuPont sold the
Neoprene
Neoprene (also polychloroprene) is a family of synthetic rubbers that are produced by polymerization of chloroprene.Werner Obrecht, Jean-Pierre Lambert, Michael Happ, Christiane Oppenheimer-Stix, John Dunn and Ralf Krüger "Rubber, 4. Emulsion R ...
chloroprene rubber business to Denka Performance Elastomers, a joint venture of Denka and
Mitsui
is one of the largest '' keiretsu'' in Japan and one of the largest corporate groups in the world.
The major companies of the group include Mitsui & Co. ( general trading company), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Nippon Paper Industri ...
.
2015 to present – Reorganization and time as DowDuPont
On December 11, 2015, DuPont announced a merger with Dow Chemical Company, in an
all-stock transaction. The combined company, DowDuPont, had an estimated value of $130 billion, being equally held by both companies’ shareholders, while also maintaining its two headquarters. The merger of the two largest U.S. chemical companies closed on August 31, 2017.
Both companies' boards of directors decided that following the merger, DowDuPont would pursue a separation into three independent, publicly traded companies: an agriculture, a materials science, and a specialty products company.
* The agriculture business—
Corteva Agriscience
Corteva, Inc. (also known as Corteva Agriscience) is a major American agricultural chemical and seed company that was the agricultural unit of DowDuPont prior to being spun off as an independent public company.
DowDuPont announced the Corteva na ...
—unites Dow and DuPont's seed and
crop protection
Crop protection is the science and practice of managing plant diseases, weeds, and other pests (both vertebrate and invertebrate) that damage crops and forestry. Crops include field crops (maize, wheat, rice, etc.), vegetable crops (potatoes, cabb ...
unit, with an approximate revenue of $16 billion.
* The materials science segment— to be named
Dow Chemical Company
The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world.
Dow manufactures plastic ...
—consists of DuPont's Performance Materials unit, together with Dow's Performance Plastics, Materials and Chemicals, Infrastructure and Consumer Solutions, but excludes Dow's Electronic Materials business. Combined revenue for this branch totals an estimated $51 billion.
* The specialty products unit—the entity today bearing the DuPont name—includes DuPont's Nutrition & Health, Industrial Biosciences, Safety & Protection and Electronics & Communications, as well as Dow's aforementioned Electronic Materials business. Combined revenue for Specialty Products total approximately $12 billion.
Advisory Committees were established for each of the businesses. DuPont CEO Ed Breen would lead the Agriculture and Specialty Products Committees, and Dow CEO Andrew Liveris would lead the Materials Science Committee. These Committees were intended to oversee their respective businesses, and would work with both CEOs on the scheduled separation of the businesses’ standalone entities.
Announced in February 2018, DowDuPont's agriculture division is named Corteva Agriscience, its materials science division is named Dow, and its specialty products division is named DuPont.
In March 2018, it was announced that
Jeff Fettig
Jeff M. Fettig (born 1957) is an American businessman. He is the former chairman and chief executive officer of the Whirlpool Corporation and serves on the board of directors for Dow Inc., the Indiana University Foundation, and is a PGA REACH Tru ...
would become executive chairman of DowDuPont on July 1, 2018, and
Jim Fitterling
James Ray Fitterling is an American business executive. He is the Chairman and CEO of Dow Inc., Fitterling serves as vice chair of the National Association of Manufacturers, and on the boards of the American Chemistry Council and the U.S.-C ...
would become CEO of Dow Chemical on April 1, 2018. In October 2018, the company's agricultural unit recorded a $4.6 billion loss in the third quarter after lowering its long-term sales and profits targets.
In 2019, DuPont completed its spin off from DowDuPont.
In February 2020, DuPont announced that it is bringing back Edward D. Breen as its CEO after removing former Chief Executive Mark Doyle and CFO Jeanmarie Desmond less than a year after they assumed their roles. Lori D. Koch, previously head of investor relations, assumes the CFO position.
In November 2021, DuPont announced that it intended to acquire
Rogers Corporation
Rogers Corporation is a specialty engineered materials company headquartered in Chandler, Arizona.
History
In 1832, the company was founded by Peter Rogers as Rogers Paper Manufacturing Company. Today, the company is composed of two business se ...
in a deal valued at $5.2 billion. While the deal had been approved by many other regulatory agencies, due to
Chinese regulators prolonging the review, DuPont decided on November 1, 2022, to walk away from the deal. DuPont paid Rogers a termination fee of US$162.5 million.
On November 10, 2022, the state of California announced it was filing suit against both DuPont and
3M for their manufacturing of
persistent organic pollutant
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs), sometimes known as "forever chemicals", are organic compounds that are resistant to environmental degradation through chemical, biological, and photolytic processes. They are toxic chemicals that adversely ...
s following multi-year probes into both companies. DuPont denies ever manufacturing the chemicals and that the state's claims are meritless.
Operations
Locations
The company's corporate headquarters and experimental station were located in
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...
. The company's manufacturing, processing, marketing, and research and development facilities, as well as regional purchasing offices and distribution centers were located throughout the world.
Major manufacturing sites included the Spruance plant near
Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars)
, image_map =
, mapsize = 250 px
, map_caption = Location within Virginia
, pushpin_map = Virginia#USA
, pushpin_label = Richmond
, pushpin_m ...
, (currently the company's largest plant), the Washington Works site in
Washington, West Virginia
Washington is a census-designated place (CDP) in Wood County, West Virginia, United States, situated along the Ohio River. It is part of the Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna, WV- OH Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,175 at the 2010 ce ...
, the Mobile Manufacturing Center (MMC) in
Axis, Alabama
Axis is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Mobile County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 561, down from 757 at the 2010 census. It has a post office with the 36505 ZIP code. Th ...
, the
Bayport plant near
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
, Texas, the Mechelen, Belgium, Mechelen site in Belgium, and the Changshu site in China. Other locations included the Yerkes Plant on the Niagara River at Tonawanda, New York, the Sabine River Works Plant in Orange, Texas, and the Parlin Site in Sayreville, New Jersey. The facilities in Vadodara, Gujarat and Hyderabad, Telangana in India constituted the DuPont Services Center and DuPont Knowledge Center respectively.
Regulation
The European Commission opened a probe to assess whether the proposed merger was in line with the EU's respective regulations. The Commission investigated whether the deal reduced competition in areas such as crop protection, seeds and petrochemicals.
The closing date for the merger was repeatedly delayed due to these regulatory inquiries.
Ed Breen said the companies were negotiating possible divestitures in their pesticide operations to win approval for the deal. As part of their EU counterproposal, the companies offered to dispose of a portion of DuPont's crop protection business and associated R&D, as well as Dow's acrylic acid copolymers and ionomers businesses.
The remedy submission in turn delayed the Commission's review deadline to April 4, 2017. The intended spins of the company businesses were expected to occur about 18 months after closing.
According to the ''Financial Times'', the merger was "on track for approval in March" 2017.
Dow Chemical and DuPont postponed the planned deadline during late March, as they struck an $1.6 billion asset swap with FMC Corporation in order to win the antitrust clearances. DuPont acquired the Corporation's health and nutrition business, while selling its herbicide and insecticide properties.
The European Commission conditionally approved the merger as of April, 2017, although the decision was said to consist of over a thousand pages and was expected to take several months to be released publicly. As part of the approval, Dow must also sell off two acrylic acid co-polymers manufacturing facilities in Spain and the US. China conditionally cleared the merger in May, 2017.
According to former United States Secretary of Agriculture during the Clinton administration, Dan Glickman, and former Governor of Nebraska, Mike Johanns, by creating a single, independent, U.S.-based and - owned pure agriculture company, Dow and DuPont would be able to compete against their still larger global peers.
The merger was not opposed by competition authorities around the world due to the view that it did not have noticeable impact on the global seed markets.
On the other hand, if Monsanto and Bayer, the 1st and 3rd largest biotech and seed firms, together with Dow and DuPont being the 4th and 5th largest biotechnology and seed companies in the world respectively, both went through with the mergers, the so-called "Big Six" (including Syngenta and BASF) in the industry would control 63 percent of the global seed market and 76 percent of the global agriculture chemical market. They would also control 95 percent of corn, soybeans, and cotton traits in the US. Both duopolies would become the "big two" industry dominators.
Reception and recognition
DuPont has been awarded the National Medal of Technology four times: first in 1990, for its invention of "high-performance man-made polymers such as nylon, neoprene rubber, "
Teflon
Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene that has numerous applications. It is one of the best-known and widely applied PFAS. The commonly known brand name of PTFE-based composition is Teflon by Chemou ...
" fluorocarbon resin, and a wide spectrum of new fibers, films, and engineering plastics"; the second in 2002 "for policy and technology leadership in the phaseout and replacement of chlorofluorocarbons". DuPont scientist George Levitt was honored with the medal in 1993 for the development of sulfonylurea herbicides. In 1996, DuPont scientist Stephanie Kwolek was recognized for the discovery and development of
Kevlar
Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s a ...
. In the 1980s, Dr. Jacob Lahijani, Senior Chemist at DuPont, invented
Kevlar
Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s a ...
149 and was highlighted in the "Innovation: Agent of Change. Kevlar 149 is used in armor, belts, hoses, composite structures, cable sheathing, gaskets, brake pads, clutch linings, friction pads, slot insulation, phase barrier insulation, and interturn insulation.
Following the DuPont and Dow merger and subsequent spinoff, this product line remained with DuPont.
On the company's 200th anniversary in 2002, it was presented with the Honor Award by the National Building Museum in recognition of DuPont's "products that directly influence the construction and design process in the building industry."
Controversies
Environmental record
DuPont was part of Global Climate Coalition, a group that lobbied against taking action on climate change. DuPont is additionally a company which has been criticized and called out for its activities in Cancer Alley, and while not as vocally criticized as ExxonMobil when it comes to its activities in Cancer Alley, DuPont has been blamed for emitting chloroprene and has been connected by some to anecdotes of "illnesses and ailmen" as told by residents of Cancer Alley.
In 1999, attorney Robert Bilott filed a lawsuit against DuPont, alleging chemical waste (perfluorooctanoic acid) fouled the property of a cattle rancher in Parkersburg, West Virginia. A subsequent lawsuit in 2004 alleged DuPont's actions led to widespread water contamination in West Virginia and Ohio which contributed to high rates of cancers and other health problems. Most of the over 3,000 lawsuits were ultimately settled for over $700 million, and DuPont paid $16.5 million in fines to the Environmental Protection Agency. Bilott's cases were featured in several newspapers and a book, and were adapted in the 2019 film ''Dark Waters (2019 film), Dark Waters''.
In 2005, ''BusinessWeek'' magazine, in conjunction with the Climate Group, ranked DuPont as the best-practice leader in cutting their carbon gas emissions. DuPont reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 65 percent from the 1990 levels while using 7 percent less energy and producing 30 percent more product.
In May 2007 the $2.1 million DuPont Nature Center at Mispillion Harbor Reserve, a wildlife observatory and interpretive center on the Delaware Bay near Milford, Delaware was opened to enhance the beauty and integrity of the Delaware Estuary. The facility will be state-owned and operated by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC).
In 2010, researchers at the Political Economy Research Institute of the University of Massachusetts Amherst ranked DuPont as the fourth-largest corporate source of air pollution in the United States. DuPont released a statement that 2012 total releases and transfers were 13% lower than 2011 levels, and 70% lower than 1987 levels. Data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s Toxic Release Inventory database included in the Political Economy Research Institute studies likewise show a reduction in DuPont's emissions from 12.4 million pounds of air releases and 22.4 million pounds of toxic incinerator transfers in 2006 to 10.94 million pounds and 22.0 million pounds, respectively, in 2010. Over the same period, the Political Economy Research Institutes Toxic score for DuPont increased from 122,426 to 7,086,303.
One of DuPont's facilities was listed No. 4 on the ''Mother Jones (magazine), Mother Jones'' top 20 polluters of 2010, legally discharging over of toxic chemicals into New Jersey and Delaware waterways. In 2016, Carneys Point Township, New Jersey, where the facility is located, initiated a $1.1 billion lawsuit against the corporation, accusing it of divesting an unprofitable company without first remediating the property as required by law.
In 2012 DuPont was named to the Carbon Disclosure Project Global 500 Leadership Index. Inclusion is based on company performance on sustainability metrics, emissions reduction goals, and environmental performance transparency. In 2014 DuPont was the top scoring company in the chemical sector according to CDP, with a score of "A" or "B" in every evaluation area except for supply chain management.
Between 2007 and 2014 there were thirty-four accidents resulting in toxic releases at DuPont plants across the U.S., with a total of 8 fatalities.
Four employees died of suffocation in a Houston, Texas, accident involving leakage of nearly of methyl mercaptan. As a result, the company became the largest of the 450 businesses placed into the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's "severe violator program" in July 2015. The program was established for companies OSHA says have repeatedly failed to address safety infractions.
Since the 2017 spin-off, the company has adapted its marketing and branding in order to establish a new identity that is "fundamentally different" from DowDuPont. The company published a list of sustainability commitments to be achieved by 2030 in November 2019. DuPont was fined over $3 million for environmental violations in 2018. In 2019, DuPont led the Toxic 100, Toxic 100 Water Polluters Index.
Genetically modified foods
Pioneer Hi-Bred
Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. is a U.S.-based producer of seeds for agriculture. They are a major producer of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), including genetically modified crops with insect and herbicide resistance.
As of 2019, Pi ...
, a DuPont subsidiary until 2019, manufactures genetically modified seeds, other tools, and agricultural technologies used to increase crop yield. In 2019, DowDuPont spun off its agricultural unit, which included Pioneer Hi-Bred, as an independent Publicly traded, public company under the name
Corteva
Corteva, Inc. (also known as Corteva Agriscience) is a major American agricultural chemical and seed company that was the agricultural unit of DowDuPont prior to being spun off as an independent public company.
DowDuPont announced the Corteva na ...
.
Chlorofluorocarbons
Dupont, along with Frigidaire and General Motors, was a part of a collaborative effort to find a replacement for toxic refrigerants in the 1920s, resulting in the invention of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by Thomas Midgley in 1928. CFCs are ozone-depleting chemicals that were used primarily in aerosol sprays and
refrigerant
A refrigerant is a working fluid used in the heat pump and refrigeration cycle, refrigeration cycle of air conditioning systems and heat pumps where in most cases they undergo a repeated phase transition from a liquid to a gas and back again. Ref ...
s. DuPont was the largest CFC producer in the world with a 25 percent market share in the 1980s, totaling $600 million in annual sales.
In 1974, responding to public concern about the safety of CFCs, DuPont promised to stop production of CFCs should they be proven to be harmful to the ozone layer. However, after the discovery of grave ozone depletion in 1986, DuPont, as a member of the industry group Alliance for Responsible CFC Policy, lobbied against regulations of CFCs. By 1989, it reversed course after calculating that it would profit from production of other chemicals used to replace CFCs.
In February 1988, United States Senator Max Baucus, along with two other senators, wrote to DuPont reminding the company of its pledge. The ''Los Angeles Times'' reported that the letter was "generally regarded as an embarrassment for DuPont, which prides itself on its reputation as an environmentally conscious company."
The company responded with a strongly worded letter that the available evidence did not support a need to dramatically reduce CFC production and calling the proposal "unwarranted and counterproductive".
On March 14 of the same year, scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Agency announced the results of a study demonstrating a 2.3% decline in mid-latitude ozone levels between 1969 and 1986, along with evidence tying the decline to CFCs in the upper atmosphere. On March 24, DuPont reversed its position, calling the NASA results "important new information" and announcing that it would phase out CFC production. The company further called for worldwide controls on CFC production and for additional countries to ratify the Montreal Protocol. DuPont's change of policy was widely praised by environmentalists. In 2003, DuPont was awarded the National Medal of Technology, recognizing the company as the leader in developing CFC replacements.
Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA; C8)
DuPont has faced fines from the EPA and litigation over releases of the Teflon-processing aid Perfluorooctanoic acid, perfluoro-octanoic acid(PFOA, also known as C8) from their works in
Washington, West Virginia
Washington is a census-designated place (CDP) in Wood County, West Virginia, United States, situated along the Ohio River. It is part of the Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna, WV- OH Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,175 at the 2010 ce ...
. PFOA-contaminated drinking water led to increased levels of the compound in the bodies of residents who lived in the surrounding area. A court-appointed C8 Science Panel investigated "whether or not there is a probable link between Perfluorooctanoic acid, C8 exposure and disease in the community." In 2011, the panel concluded that there is a probable link between PFOA and kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, Hypercholesterolemia, high cholesterol, pre-eclampsia and ulcerative colitis.
Water contamination in the Netherlands and links to cancer are also being investigated.
DuPont agreed to sharply reduce its output of PFOA, and was one of eight companies to sign on with the EPA's 2010/2015 PFOA Stewardship Program. The agreement called for the reduction of "facility emissions and product content of PFOA and related chemicals on a global basis by 95 percent by 2010 and to work toward eliminating emissions and product content of these chemicals by 2015." DuPont phased out PFOA entirely in 2013.
Unlike other persistent organic pollutants, PFOA persists indefinitely and is completely resistant to bio-degradation, remaining toxic. The only way to reduce levels in the body is by physical elimination rather than degradation. In 2014, the International Agency for Research on Cancer designated PFOA as "possibly carcinogenic" in humans. In October 2015, one Ohio resident was awarded $1.6 million when a jury found that her kidney cancer was caused by PFOA in drinking water. In December 2016, $2 million was awarded when a jury found it caused the plaintiff's testicular cancer and awarded punitive damages of $10.5 million. This was the third case where a jury found DuPont liable for injuries resulting from exposure to PFOA in drinking water sources. There were 3,500 similar cases awaiting trial c. 2015. According to the co-lead counselor, internal documents revealed during trial showed DuPont had known of a link between PFOA and cancers since 1997. DuPont maintains it has always handled PFOA "reasonably and responsibly" based on the information they, and industry regulators, had available during its use. However, the jury concluded that DuPont did not act to prevent harm or inform the public, despite the information available.
In 2017, DuPont settled 3,550 personal injury claims related to the Parkersburg, West Virginia plant for $671 million.
The litigation was the subject of the 2019 Todd Haynes film ''Dark Waters (2019 film), Dark Waters'' starring Mark Ruffalo.
Imprelis
In October 2010 DuPont began marketing a herbicide called Imprelis, for control of certain plants in turf areas. DuPont voluntarily pulled Imprelis from the market in August 2011 before the EPA issued a mandatory stop-sale order on Imprelis after being alerted of numerous reports from golf courses to nurseries that the product was suspected of injuring and, in some cases, killing trees. Norway spruce, white pines and honey locust proved to be among the species of trees that were susceptible.
[Detroit Free Press, May 21, 2012, page A1]
Price fixing
In 2005, the company pleaded guilty to fixing prices of chemicals and products that used Polychloroprene, neoprene, a synthetic rubber, resulting in an $84 million fine.
See also
* ''Dark Waters (2019 film), Dark Waters''
* ''The Devil We Know (film), The Devil We Know''
* Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS
* Du Pont family
* ''DuPont v. Kolon Industries''
* ''Foxcatcher''
* Hagley Museum and Library
* Longwood Gardens
* Krebs Pigments and Chemical Company
* Team Foxcatcher
References
Further reading
* Arora, Ashish; Ralph Landau and Nathan Rosenberg, (eds). (2000). ''Chemicals and Long-Term Economic Growth: Insights from the Chemical Industry''.
* Cerveaux, Augustin. (2013) “Taming the Microworld: DuPont and the Interwar Rise of Fundamental Industrial Research,” ''Technology and Culture,'' 54 (April 2013), 262–88.
* Alfred D. Chandler Jr., Chandler, Alfred D. (1971). ''Pierre S. Du Pont and the making of the modern corporation''.
* Chandler, Alfred D. (1969). ''Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the American Industrial Enterprise''.
* du Pont, B.G. (1920). ''iarchive:eidupontdenemour00dupouoft, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company: A History 1802–1902''. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
* Martin Grams Jr., Grams, Martin. ''The History of the Cavalcade of America: Sponsored by DuPont''. (Morris Publishing, 1999).
* Haynes, Williams (1983). ''American chemical industry''
* David A. Hounshell, Hounshell, David A. and Smith, John Kenly, JR (1988). ''Science and Corporate Strategy: Du Pont R and D, 1902–1980''. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. .
* Kinnane, Adrian (2002). ''DuPont: From the Banks of the Brandywine to Miracles of Science''. Wilmington: E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. .
* Ndiaye, Pap A. (trans. 2007). ''Nylon and Bombs: DuPont and the March of Modern America''
* Zilg, Gerard Colby. ''DuPont: Behind the Nylon Curtain'' (Prentice-Hall: 1974) 623 pages,
* Zilg, Gerard Colby. ''Du Pont Dynasty: Behind the Nylon Curtain''. (Secaucus NJ: Lyle Stuart, 1984). 968 pages,
External links
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Corporate History as presented by the company*
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DuPont,
2017 establishments in Delaware
American companies established in 2017
Chemical companies established in 2017
Chemical companies of the United States
Companies based in Wilmington, Delaware
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
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