Solvay Process Company
| Chemical Manufacturing | |
| Industry | Chemicals |
| Fate | Purchased by |
| Founded | 1880 |
| Founder | Joint venture between chemists, Belgians Ernest and Alfred Solvay, who owned the patent rights to the Solvay process, and Americans William B. Cogswell (1834–1921) and Rowland Hazard II (1829–1898) |
| Defunct | 1985 |
| Headquarters | Solvay, Onondaga County, New York, United States |
|
Area served
|
United States |
| Products | Soda ash |
| Parent | E. C. Stearns & Company |
The Solvay Process Company (1880–1985) was a pioneer chemical industry of the United States in the manufacture of soda ash and a major employer in Central New York. The company was the origin of the village of Solvay.
The Solvay Process Company was a joint venture between the inventing chemists, Belgians Ernest and Alfred Solvay, who owned the patent rights to the Solvay process, and Americans William B. Cogswell (1834–1921) and Rowland Hazard II (1829–1898). Cogswell, a former resident of Syracuse, New York, was an engineer who was familiar with the natural resources of Central New York that would be available for use in process. He was employed as a mining engineer by one of the Hazard family businesses at the time. Knowing that American industry was importing soda ash from Europe, Cogswell envisioned utilizing the process in America, and in Solvay, New York.
After several refusals, Cogswell secured American rights to the Solvay process. He obtained capital to build a production facility from Roland Hazard II, scion of an old Rhode Island family. Roland Hazard was the major American investor in the company and its first president. His son, Frederick Rowland Hazard, was an initial officer and subsequently became president. William B. Cogswell served as vice-president. Frederick's brother Rowland G. Hazard II (1855–1918) followed Cogswell as vice-president, serving many years in that role.
The Solvay brothers in Belgium had a one-third interest in the company. To produce soda ash, the Solvay process requires salt brine and limestone, both obtained locally. Wells in the town of Tully provided salt brine, pumped by pipeline to Solvay. An elevated conveyor, with buckets suspended from a cable loop, passed in a tunnel through a hill to deliver stone from company quarries at Split Rock, in the Town of Onondaga, about four miles to the south.
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