Since December, Orrion Chemicals Orgaform (OCO) has been producing surfactants from the CosmeGreen range of surfactants SurfactGreen, a spin-off from the École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Rennes (ENSCR), which previously entrusted subcontractors to subcontracted the production of its bio-based surfactants for the cosmetics industry.
OCO had to invest €4m on the Semoy site in a green chemistry demonstrator: the project was supported by Ademe via a grant of €1.1m and a repayable advance of €0.75m.
‘Today, two employees are dedicated to the SurfactGreen contract. Eventually, there will be eight people’, explains Christian Siest, President of OCO.
OCO, which employs 47 persons on the former Dow Chemical site in Semoy, is expanding its portfolio of contract customers some 60% of the sales of €15m – stable for the past three years – with two main activities: adhesives for the automotive industry from DuPont automotive and the recycling of polyurethane foam from Dow mattresses.
In terms of products of our own range (40% of sales), adhesives for staples and the Polyglas range for the treatment of hollow glassware are subject to strong particularly low-cost.
Future growth will undoubtedly be underpinned by Polymold water-based agents for the demoulding industrial polyurethane foam parts. ‘We have made significant investment in R&D to develop this range ’ adds Christian Siest.
