The Flexsys Story

In 1995 Monsanto and Akzo Nobel formed a joint venture company, Flexsys, to combine their rubber chemistry efforts.Two years later Monsanto consolidated their chemical operations in a new company, Solutia.Flexsys is the world’s major producer of chemicals for the rubber processing industry.Its products are used in the manufacture of tires, paints, coatings, adhesives, and fuel additives. They also supply the water treatment and mining industry.Presently, Flexsys has 20 sites throughout the world. Its 1500 employees account for production worth $600M annually.

The chemistry that was nominated for the Presidential Green Chemistry Award was demonstrated in a pilot plant at Monsanto’s J. F. Queeny facility in St. Louis, Missouri.The company invested $10M to design and build the plant. This represents the largest investment in the rubber chemical industry in many years.It took only six months to demonstrate the feasibility on an industrial scale of the chemistry outlined in the nomination.