Union Carbide Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of The
Dow Chemical CompanyThe Dow Chemical Company is a multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. As of 2007, it is the second largest chemical manufacturer in the world by revenue and as of February 2009, the third-largest chemical company in the world by market capitalization .Dow...
. It currently employs more than 2,400 people. Union Carbide primarily produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers before reaching consumers. Some are high-volume commodities and others are specialty products meeting the needs of smaller markets. Markets served include paints and coatings, packaging, wire and cable, household products, personal care, pharmaceuticals, automotive, textiles, agriculture, and oil and gas. The company is a former component of the
Dow Jones Industrial AverageThe Dow Jones Industrial Average , also called the Industrial Average, the Dow Jones, the Dow 30, or simply the Dow, is a stock market index, and one of several indices created by Wall Street Journal editor and Dow Jones & Company co-founder Charles Dow...
.
Founded in 1917, the company's
researchResearch can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
ers developed an economical way to make
ethyleneEthylene is a gaseous organic compound with the formula . It is the simplest alkene . Because it contains a carbon-carbon double bond, ethylene is classified as an unsaturated hydrocarbon. Ethylene is widely used in industry and is also a plant hormone...
from
natural gasNatural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
liquids, such as
ethaneEthane is a chemical compound with chemical formula C2H6. It is the only two-carbon alkane that is an aliphatic hydrocarbon. At standard temperature and pressure, ethane is a colorless, odorless gas....
and
propanePropane is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula , normally a gas, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used as a fuel for engines, oxy-gas torches, barbecues, portable stoves, and residential central...
, giving birth to the modern
petrochemicalPetrochemicals are chemical products derived from petroleum. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sources such as corn or sugar cane....
industry. Before divesting them, the chemical giant owned consumer products
EvereadyEveready Battery Company, Inc., headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, is an American manufacturer of battery brands Eveready and Energizer, owned by Energizer Holdings.-History:...
and
EnergizerEnergizer Holdings is an American manufacturer of batteries and personal care products, headquartered in Town and Country, Missouri. Its most well known brands are Energizer and Eveready batteries, Schick, Wilkinson Sword and Edge shaving products, Playtex feminine hygiene and baby products, and...
batteries,
GladGlad is an American company specializing in trash bags and plastic food storage containers.-History:The Glad brand originated in the United States in 1963 when the owner and CEO of the company, David Darroch, launched "Glad Wrap", a polyethylene film used as a food wrap. Douglas G. Taylor was...
bags and wraps,
SimonizSimoniz USA was formed as a result of a purchase by Syndet Products, Inc. of the Simoniz brand name in 1997 from First Brands Corp. Syndet, at the time, was a 25-year old manufacturer of hard surface detergents, cleaners and waxes, serving the automotive, institutional and industrial marketplace...
car wax, and
PrestonePrestone is an American brand of antifreeze marketed by FRAM Group IP LLC. It was originally made by Union Carbide, who spun off their consumer products in 1986 to form First Brands . In 1994, First Brands spun off the brand to its management and Vestar Capital Partners. AlliedSignal purchased...
antifreezeAntifreeze is a freeze preventive used in internal combustion engines and other heat transfer applications, such as HVAC chillers and solar water heaters....
. The company divested other businesses before being acquired by Dow Chemical on February 6, 2001, including electronic chemicals,
polyurethaneA polyurethane is any polymer composed of a chain of organic units joined by carbamate links. Polyurethane polymers are formed through step-growth polymerization, by reacting a monomer with another monomer in the presence of a catalyst.Polyurethanes are...
intermediates, industrial gases and carbon products.
History
The
Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation was formed in 1917 from the merger of the former Union Carbide founded in 1898 and the National Carbon Company founded in 1886. These companies made carbon rods for
arc lightArc Light is the debut novel by Eric L. Harry, a techno-thriller about limited nuclear war published in 1994 and written in 1991-2.As China and Russia clash in Siberia in June 1999, nuclear missiles strike the United States. The U.S. retaliates against Russia, and World War III begins...
s and electrodes for
electric arc furnaceAn electric arc furnace is a furnace that heats charged material by means of an electric arc.Arc furnaces range in size from small units of approximately one ton capacity up to about 400 ton units used for secondary steelmaking...
s, and produced aluminum. Other companies merged included Linde Air Products, maker of liquid oxygen, Prest-O-Lite, manufacturer of calcium carbide, and Electro Metallurgical. In 1920 the company set up a chemicals division which manufactured ethylene glycol for use as automotive
antifreezeAntifreeze is a freeze preventive used in internal combustion engines and other heat transfer applications, such as HVAC chillers and solar water heaters....
. The company continued to acquire related chemical producers, for example, the
Bakelite Corporation became a division in 1939. The company changed its name to "Union Carbide Corporation" in 1957.
Ucar batteries was
Union CarbideUnion Carbide Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company. It currently employs more than 2,400 people. Union Carbide primarily produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers before reaching consumers. Some are high-volume...
's former industrial and consumer zinc chloride battery manufacturing branch.
EnergizerEnergizer Holdings is an American manufacturer of batteries and personal care products, headquartered in Town and Country, Missouri. Its most well known brands are Energizer and Eveready batteries, Schick, Wilkinson Sword and Edge shaving products, Playtex feminine hygiene and baby products, and...
alkaline batteriesAlkaline batteries are a type of primary batteries dependent upon the reaction between zinc and manganese dioxide . A rechargeable alkaline battery allows reuse of specially designed cells....
were sold off to Ralston Purina in 1986, following a hostile takeover attempt.
Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster
The Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster took place between 1927 and 1932 in a West Virginia tunnel project led by Union Carbide. During the construction of the tunnel, workers found the mineral silica and were asked to mine it for use in electroprocessing steel. The workers were not given masks or breathing equipment to use while mining. Due to silica dust exposure, many workers developed
silicosisSilicosis, also known as Potter's rot, is a form of occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust, and is marked by inflammation and scarring in forms of nodular lesions in the upper lobes of the lungs...
, a debilitating lung disease. According to a marker on site, there were 109 admitted deaths. A
congressional hearingCongressional hearings are the principal formal method by which committees collect and analyze information in the early stages of legislative policymaking. Whether confirmation hearings — a procedure unique to the Senate — legislative, oversight, investigative, or a combination of these, all...
placed the death toll at 476.
Bhopal disaster
The Bhopal disaster was an
industrialIndustry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
disasterA disaster is a natural or man-made hazard that has come to fruition, resulting in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the environment...
that took place at a Union Carbide India Limited
pesticidePesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...
plant in the
IndianIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
city of
Bhopal,
Madhya PradeshMadhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
. Around midnight on 3 December 1984,
methyl isocyanateMethyl isocyanate is an organic compound with the molecular formula CH3NCO. Synonyms are isocyanatomethane, methyl carbylamine, and MIC. Methyl isocyanate is an intermediate chemical in the production of carbamate pesticides . It has also been used in the production of rubbers and adhesives...
(MIC) gas was accidentally released from the plant, exposing more than 500,000 people to MIC and other chemicals. The government of Madhya Pradesh confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release. The disaster left an estimated 40,000 individuals permanently disabled, maimed, or suffering from serious illness. Union Carbide was sued by the
Government of IndiaThe Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
and agreed to an out-of-court settlement of US$470 million in 1989. Issues yet to be settled include the Bhopal plant site clean up and India's demand for the extradition of then-Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson.
See also
- Union Carbide Corporate Center
- National Carbon Company
The National Carbon Company was founded in 1886 by the former Brush Electric Company executive W. H. Lawrence, in association with Myron T. Herrick, James Parmelee, and Webb Hayes, son of U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes, in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1890, National Carbon merged with Thomson-Houston,...
External links