Chemische Industrie Uithoorn (Cindu, later ''Cindu Chemicals'') was a chemical company in

Uithoorn Uithoorn () is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Population centres The municipality of Uithoorn consists of the following cities, towns, villages and/or districts: De Kwakel and Uithoorn. ''Dutc ...

, Netherlands specialising in processing from

coal tar Coal tar is a thick dark liquid which is a by-product of the production of coke and coal gas from coal. It is a type of creosote. It has both medical and industrial uses. Medicinally it is a topical medication applied to skin to treat psoriasi ...

. The company was founded in 1922 as ''Teerbedrijf Uithoorn'' (''TEBU''), and operated under a number of company names. It was acquired by

Koppers Koppers is a global chemical and materials company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States in an art-deco 1920s skyscraper, the Koppers Tower. Structure Koppers is an integrated global producer of carbon compounds, chemicals, and trea ...

in 2010 and renamed ''Koppers Netherlands''. A subsidiary producing polymers from tar derived chemicals was formed in 1960 as ''Neville Cindu Chemie'' (later ''Nevcin Polymers'') and operated from the same site in Uithoorn. A reactor at the factory exploded in 1992, causing three deaths and several injuries. Cindu ceased operations in 2014.

History

Industrial chemical activity in

dates to at least 1863; the ''Koninklijke Chemische Fabriek'' produced primarily

Sulphuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...

the site. The company was acquired by rival sulphuric acid produced Ketjen en Co.Ketjen, founded by Gerhard Tileman Ketjen; one of the predecessor companies of

AKZO 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, ...

. who concentrated their manufacturing capacity in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. The plant in Uithoorn closed, and was sold for demolition in 1916.Cindu 8 juli 1992, (NBDC)
2 : beschrijving

2.1 Het bedrijf
In 1922 the factory was acquired by J.A. van Seumeren who created a tar processing facility under the company ''Teerbedrijf Uithoorn'' (TEBU).

Koninklijke Hoogovens Koninklijke Hoogovens known as Koninklijke Nederlandse Hoogovens en Staalfabrieken (KNHS) until 1996 or informally Hoogovens. was a Dutch steel producer founded in 1918. Since 2010, the plant is named Tata Steel IJmuiden. The IJmuiden steelwor ...

acquired a stake in the company in 1927. In 1952/3 the company merged with the Utrechtsche Asphaltfabriek NV in 1952 to form ''Teerunie NV'', in 1959 the company was renamed ''Chemische Industrie Uithoorn'' (CINDU). In 1953 a sales subsidiary (TEBU France) was established in France in 1953. (sold to the ''van Dijk'' family 1979 and now tebu-bio). During the 1970s pollution from in the Uithoorn area became a major source for public concern - Cindu was a major polluter. A public group ''werkgroep Cindroom'' was formed by concerned residents of Uithoorn. During the 1970s new environmental protection laws were introduced in the Netherlands, including air quality, and odor nuisance regulations. Before emission control mechanisms were introduced the Cindu plant was estimated to emit ~200t per year into the air. Discharges causing water pollution also exceeded standards, which the company could not realistically meet; exceptions to discharge limits were granted to 1988 whilst the company and authorities sought solutions. In 1991 the Cindu group (including subsidiaries) employed over 1700 of which over 500 were employed in Uithorn including about 120 at the Nevcin joint venture. Cindu's parent holding company ''Cindu International NV'' (formerly named ''Cindu - Key & Kramer NV'') owned interests in a number of other companies, Cindu International was split up in 1997, and delisted 1999. The coal tar activities at Uithoorn continued after 1997 as Cindu Chemicals, (50% owned by

), as well as the joint venture Nevcin Polymers. In 1992 three people died after an explosion at the factory. In 2001 a storage tank for Naphthalene cracked; the resultant odor brought complaints about the odor of ( moth balls), which was reported as far away as England. The plant was sold to Koppers Inc. in 2010 and ceased operations in 2014.

Joint ventures and subsidiaries

Nevcin

''Neville Cindu Chemie'' was founded in 1959 as a 50:50 joint venture located in Uithorn, between Cindu International and

Neville Chemical Neville may refer to: Places *Neville, New South Wales, Australia *Neville, Saskatchewan, Canada *Néville, in the Seine-Maritime department, France *Néville-sur-Mer, in the Manche department, France *Neville, Ohio, USA *Neville Township, Penns ...

. The company manufactured organic resins. The company was renamed ''Nevcin Polymers'' in 1984. On 8 July 1992 an overheating vessel at the Nevcin site exploded, resulting in a fire; three people were killed and eleven wounded. The accident was caused by the reaction vessel being wrongly filled with the reactive chemical

Dicyclopentadiene Dicyclopentadiene, abbreviated DCPD, is a chemical compound with formula C10H12. At room temperature, it is a white brittle wax, although lower purity samples can be straw coloured liquids. The pure material smells somewhat of soy wax or camphor ...

the previous day. In 1999 Neville chemicals became sole owner of the company. The company was renamed ''Neville Chemical Europe BV'' from the beginning of 2003. In October 2011 the company was sold to Resinall Rutgers Resins (Germany).

TTS

''Tanker Transport Services BV'' (TTS) was established in 1965; it was the water transportation subsidiary of Cindu, operating tanker barges. It became a separate company in 2002 through a management buyout.

Products

Cindu chemicals

In 2007 Cindu's output included

Naphthalene Naphthalene is an organic compound with formula . It is the simplest polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, and is a white crystalline solid with a characteristic odor that is detectable at concentrations as low as 0.08 ppm by mass. As an aromati ...

Creosote Creosote is a category of carbonaceous chemicals formed by the distillation of various tars and pyrolysis of plant-derived material, such as wood or fossil fuel. They are typically used as preservatives or antiseptics. Some creosote types were ...

Carbon black Carbon black (subtypes are acetylene black, channel black, furnace black, lamp black and thermal black) is a material produced by the incomplete combustion of coal and coal tar, vegetable matter, or petroleum products, including fuel oil, fluid ...

and Pitch used for the production of carbon electrodes, and also bitumen emulsions for road construction. The primary process carried out the site was by distillation at 350C, in addition to further purification processes. The primary source of raw material (tar) was

, tar from the plant was shipped by barge to Uithoorn. As of 2012 the plant had a capacity to process 140000t of tar per year.

Nevcin

Nevcin synthesises hydrocarbon resins, using distillates from cracking of the naphtha fraction, with polymerisation feedstock including

isoprene Isoprene, or 2-methyl-1,3-butadiene, is a common volatile organic compound with the formula CH2=C(CH3)−CH=CH2. In its pure form it is a colorless volatile liquid. Isoprene is an unsaturated hydrocarbon. It is produced by many plants and animals ...

piperylene Piperylene or 1,3-pentadiene is an organic compound with the formula . It is a volatile, flammable hydrocarbon. It is one of the five positional isomers of pentadiene. Reactions and occurrence Piperylene is a typical diene. It forms a sulfo ...

and

cyclopentadiene Cyclopentadiene is an organic compound with the chemical formula, formula C5H6.LeRoy H. Scharpen and Victor W. Laurie (1965): "Structure of cyclopentadiene". ''The Journal of Chemical Physics'', volume 43, issue 8, pages 2765-2766. It is often ab ...

(or

dicyclopentadiene Dicyclopentadiene, abbreviated DCPD, is a chemical compound with formula C10H12. At room temperature, it is a white brittle wax, although lower purity samples can be straw coloured liquids. The pure material smells somewhat of soy wax or camphor ...

dimer) as well as

styrene Styrene () is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5CH=CH2. This derivative of benzene is a colorless oily liquid, although aged samples can appear yellowish. The compound evaporates easily and has a sweet smell, although high concen ...

and styrene-type products including vinyltoluene,

indene Indene is a flammable polycyclic hydrocarbon with chemical formula . It is composed of a benzene ring fused with a cyclopentene ring. This aromatic liquid is colorless although samples often are pale yellow. The principal industrial use of in ...

, methylindene and alpha-methylstyrene. Resins derived from

Coumarone Benzofuran is the heterocyclic compound consisting of fused benzene and furan rings. This colourless liquid is a component of coal tar. Benzofuran is the "parent" of many related compounds with more complex structures. For example, psoralen is ...

(Benzofuran) and indene are also produced.

Notes

References

Sources

External links

;Cindu *, archive of company website *, company webpage ;Nevcin *, company website;Nevcin ;tebu-bio *{{citation, url = http://www.tebu-bio.com/, title = tebu-bio: reagents and lab services in Life Sciences, company website Chemical companies of the Netherlands Uithoorn