A brilliant future for Hydrogen Peroxide

Symbolized by the chemical formula H₂O₂, this "ecological" product breaks down essentially into water and oxygen, qualifying it as "bio-degradable". Discovered in 1818 by a French chemist, Louis-Jacques Thénard, today it is used extensively in paper manufacture, and is present in our everyday life. You have guessed it, hydrogen peroxide it is, a product for which Arkema is the world’s 3rd largest manufacturer.

 

Hydrogen peroxide is a rare product in many respects. Despite its venerable age – it is almost 200 years old – it is still in great form!". Hydrogen peroxide indeed ranks among Arkema’s "blockbusters " thanks to a comprehensive offer, its various applications, and a market sustained by demand growing at a steady pace of around 4 % p.a.

 

 

A genuinely green product

Hydrogen peroxide has countless qualities and no equal in the world of chemistry. A colorless product, it generates no by-product, it bleaches, disinfects, and features certain biocidal properties. A biodegradable product, it has no harmful impact on the environment as it breaks down into water and oxygen. Its composition makes it highly soluble in water. Industrially speaking, hydrogen peroxide is also an excellent "learner": its original and complex process has been constantly improved by our teams over the past 50 years to become ever safer and more competitive!

 

Countless applications

And this is not all: with its controlled and adaptable stability, hydrogen peroxide can be used in countless applications. In aseptic packaging for fruit juice and milk, household detergents, bleaching products for laundry and for teeth…, hydrogen peroxide is used in varying concentrations in a vast array of everyday consumer products. Not to mention that this "miracle product" helps ensure the whiteness of paper pulp, its main target application.

 

A segmented offer

Over and above the inherent qualities of hydrogen peroxide, its applications have become innumerable thanks to its availability in a wide range of concentrations (35%, 50%, 60% and 70%) and equally wide-ranging packaging types: from bulk rail trucks and road tankers to 30 kg - 1,000 kg containers.

This segmented approach is reflected in particular in an offer structured around three worldwide brands. Used from Vancouver to Memphis and from Grenoble to Shanghai, the Albone®, Peroxal® and Valsterane® ranges have been designed to cover the entire spectrum of the needs of industry: paper pulp manufacturers, chemical majors, textile manufacturers, food industry, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and detergents, as well as effluent treatment (water and gas).
Additionally, sodium chlorate, another flagship product from this BU, is also used in the same paper pulp market. Both these products (H₂O₂ and NaClO₃) produced at the Jarrie plant (France) therefore combine industrial rationale with marketing “complicity”, with the aim of boosting its proximity to the markets.

 

A slogan for the product

One further reason for predicting a very bright future for hydrogen peroxide? Fully confident in the future of this "miracle product", which also perfectly falls in line with sustainable development, the marketing teams wanted to translate this end-purpose into a slogan. Through brainstorming, in-house working parties, tests involving a target group,… the dynamic orchestrated by the marketing department helped devise a value proposition conveying a promise for a bright future: Brighten your future with us. A most appropriate choice given that "brighten" is the very word used in the paper pulp industry, with paper pulp bleaching at the core of the process. There is no doubt that the sector’s manufacturers have received this "subliminal message" in full.

 

H2O2: Say it with figures Annual worldwide production: 3 million metric tons Annual market growth: 4% Arkema: world’s 3rd leading producer 3 continents, 5 production facilities: Europe: Jarrie (France), Leuna (Germany) North America: Bécancour (Canada), Memphis (United States) Asia: Shanghai (China) Overal volume produced by Arkema = 350 ktpa (kilo tons per year)

 

* High added value products