Report - British Celanese - Spondon - March '14

Mr Sam · Nov 12, 2014

We first checked it out on a sunny evening on the way back from somewhere else took one look at the main gate and what lay beyond and decided best to come back with a whole day free, later in the week i shot down one of the other access roads on the motorbike only to be stopped and told it was a no through route but at least i now had an idea of what was where!

Finally the day came to give it a go for real cue lots of walking, hiding from secca, more walking, some climbing a fair bit of running and we were in

The site is massive and its clear from other reports we missed parts closer to what was then still live.

The origins of the company lie with two brothers, Henri and Camille Dreyfus. In 1912 they set up "Cellonit Gesellschaft Dreyfus and Co" in Basel, Switzerland. In 1916 the brothers were invited to live in Britain by the British Government, to produce their recently developed cellulose acetate dope for the war effort; the canvas skins of aircraft of the time were sealed and made taut with nitrocellulose dope, which was easily ignited by bullets. They developed the necessary plant and "British Cellulose and Chemical Manufacturing Co" was registered on March 18, 1916. The British Government patented the process developed by Henri Dreyfus, which lowered the costs of acetic anhydride production, an important reagent in the production of cellulose acetate. At the end of World War I, the British Government cancelled all contracts and the company changed to produce acetate fibres. In 1923 the company name was changed to British Celanese Ltd, a contraction of cellulose and ease. Softer and stronger, as well as being cheaper to produce than other fabrics used at the time such as satin or taffeta, Celanese was used in the production of garments.

British Celanese was the first factory in Britain to produce propylene and from it isopropyl alcohol and acetone in 1942.

Clarifoil production developed out of cellulose acetate yarn technology. Clarifoil full-scale production commenced from 1947.

Henri Dreyfus died in 1944. Camille Dreyfus died in 1956.

In 1957, British Celanese was taken over by Courtaulds. The site is now operated by Celanese.

The plant finally closed after the last shift on Wednesday 14th November 2012.