Merichem Company: The First Fifty Years

Dallas, Texas: Odenwald Press, 1995. L5 - A first edition (complete numberline) hardcover book in very good condition in very good dust jacket that is mylar protected. Dust jacket has some wrinkling, chipping and crease on the edges and corners, scattered rubbing, light scratches and scuffing, light discoloration and shelf wear. Book has some bumped corners, wrinkling on the spine edges, a few scattered light stains on the page edges, light discolroation and shelf wear. 9.5"x6.5", 359 Satisfaction Guaranteed. Of all the industries an entrepreneur might enter in the late 1940s, petrochemicals would be one of the toughest. Attempting to start a capital intensive chemical business on the meager savings of its young founders was a daunting task. But Merichem founders John Files and Ed Lewis had been tempered by the hard work of the Great Depression and encouraged by the fast track opportunities of the petrochemical industry following World War II. They were strong and determined. Merichem is an American success story. Besides sheer determination, the entrepreneurs brought integrity and a love of engineering innovation to the task of pioneering a new technology. John Files would say, "Merichem is a company built on ideas." And indeed it was. From its humble beginnings of manufacturing soap and refining wax for candle manufacturers, the fledgling company would soon take on the refining of cresylic acid from refineries' by-product of spent caustic, challenging the centuries-old coal tar acid producers with a new technology. Four themes weave throughout Merichem's 50-year-old history. First, the emphasis on technology from its founders led Merichem to develop processes for purer and purer products. Over time, Merichem would isolate all 35 of the isomers in crude cresylic. Its many products would be sold worldwide and Merichem would be a world leader in the refining of cresylic acid, naphthenic acid and their downstream products. Second is the story of Merichem's close relationship with refiners - a relationship that even those within the industry found puzzling. From the first, Merichem made a "take-it-all" pack with refiners that broke all the rules on supply contracts. That commitment led Merichem to become over time a consultant in product treating and environmental management to refiners. Merichem's search for feedstock, however, would eventually lead it to develop the technology to process all available sources of cresylic acid from around the world, including coal tar acids and synthetic fluids. Thirdly, there is the story of Merichem, which started as a environmental service for refineries, but found itself facing increasing government environmental regulations as the decades passed. The challenges of staying ahead of those regulations would continue to occupy Merichem's management, research team, engineers and attorneys. But stay ahead they did. As other producers fell out under the increasing environmental pressure, Merichem survived. And last, but not least, is the story of Merichem's entrepreneurial finance - the early years when bailing wire and used pipe were barely affordable, through the opportune merger with Jefferson Lake Sulphur Co., the leveraged buyout a few years later from Occidental Petroleum Corporation, and the ups and downs of an independent, employee-owned Merichem as it grew and took on new challenges.. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.