History
 1815 |
Joseph Crosfield established a soapery on the banks of the river Mersey at Warrington, England. It remained a successful family business for approximately
100 years. |
| 1850's |
Production of sodium silicate for use in soaps began. |
| 1919 |
Joseph Crosfield & Sons was acquired by Lever Brothers its main competitor but continued to operate independently. |
| 1920's |
First production of silica gels and aluminosilicate water softeners. |
| 1929 |
Unilever formed by merger of Lever Brothers and the Dutch Margarine Union. |
| 1964 |
The production of soap powders, including the well-known Persil™ brand, was transferred to Lever Brothers and Crosfield became exclusively a chemicals business. |
| 1960's/ 1970's |
The Company diversified its chemicals operations with
the establishment of business in textile chemicals, concrete additives, polyelectrolytes, industrial detergents and petroleum
refining catalysts. |
| 1980's/ 1990's |
New manufacturing sites were established in The Netherlands, Italy, North and South America and the Far East. This internationalisation was accompanied by a refocusing upon and strengthening of the silica / silicate / zeolite core businesses and a divestment of non-core activities. Large scale manufacture of zeolites as a replacement for phosphates in washing powders began in
the mid 1990's. |
| 1997 |
Crosfield, along with Unilever's other specialty Chemicals businesses, was sold to ICI. |
| 2001 |
INEOS acquires Crosfield and forms INEOS Silicas. |