MEL Chemicals Company History

MEL Chemicals was founded in 1934 as Magnesium Elektron. Originally a manufacturer of magnesium products; the company has grown in both size and scope, and today stands as one of the worlds leading producers of zirconium chemicals.

The 23 hectare Manchester manufacturing site was first established in 1934 and became known as MEL Chemicals in the 1990's. We have a number of production and pilot plants at our Manchester site, enabling us to produce various zirconium based products, on a wide range of scales from 100g to 2Te per batch.

Below is a brief timeline of the company:

 

1934

Magnesium Elektron constituted as British Magnesium (Elektronmetall) Ltd

1935

Magnesium Elektron Ltd founded as a joint venture between ICI (48%), I. G. Farbenindustrie (30%) and F A Hughes and Co Limited (22%)

1945

First magnesium-zirconium master alloy made

1950

Manufacture of zirconium oxide for ceramic colours started at MEL.

1951

Became wholly owned by Distillers Company Ltd.

1956

Production of zirconium carbonate commenced to meet increasing demand from textile and paint industries.

1958

Hafnium oxide produced commercially at MEL as raw material for hafnium metal for British nuclear submarine. MEL developed a process to separate hafnium from zirconium. Nuclear fuel products developed with United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority.

1961

Became wholly owned by British Aluminium Company.

1963

New battery plate alloys. New zirconium chemicals for paints, plastics, paper and catalysis.

1972

Magnesium Elektron acquired manufacturing assets at Flemington, New Jersey, USA.

1974

Effluent plants installed to meet UK and US legislation.

1976

Expansion of and modernisation of plants in England and USA.

1982

Became wholly owned by subsidiary of British Alcan Aluminium plc.

1985

Incorporated into Alcan Chemical Division.

1990

New manufacturing facilities opened in UK and at Flemington, New Jersey, increasing world production and sale of zirconium compounds by one third.

1990´s

Novel products developed for paper, pigments, plastics and ceramics. Zirconium products for energy generation and storage.

1993

ISO 9001 certification achieved

1996

Became wholly owned by the Luxfer Group

2002

Major product development for auto-catalysis application

2008

ISO 14001 certification achieved, Our Flemington site MEI became know as MEL Chemicals Inc