Stamicarbon was founded in the coal mining area of Limburg, the most southern province of the Netherlands, in 1947. Stamicarbon (the name is a contraction of the words State Mines Carbon) set itself the goal of ‘obtaining and exploiting inventions, patents and working methods in general, and in particular in the field of the purification of pit coal’.

1940s: At first, the company sold licenses for coal washing plants according to the float and sink process, the purpose of which was to separate out larger lumps. Business was brisk, and from 1950 onwards, profitable.

1950s: Stamicarbon commissioned its first urea plant as early as the 1950s but it was in September 1956, that its flagship urea plant was commissioned in Geleen, the Netherlands (in an empty soda plant). Production capacity was 150 tonnes per day. The following year, Stamicarbon sold its first urea license to the Société Carbochimique in Tertre, Belgium.

1960s: As the demand for coal decreased, Stamicarbon’s focus on urea and related chemicals increased. We granted our first licence in Russia in 1964. We also began licensing Melamine, a urea-based coating used primarily for furniture and wood-based products.

1970s: Stamicarbon begins to formalise its consultative approach to licensing, introducing the Plant Management Consultancy (PMC) concept that covers every aspect of urea production, including learning and development. It was during the 1970s that we introduced the first computer-based simulations for urea production.

1980s: The dawn of both high and low-density polyethelene (HDPE and LLDPE) licensing is a major feature of this decade. Meanwhile, as if to demonstrate the company’s increasing global reach, new plants are licensed in Europe (former Yugoslavia), the Middle East (United Arab Emirates), Africa (Nigeria), Asia (Malaysia) and South America (Venezuela).

1990s: New breakthrough innovations in the urea synthesis section were made with the development of the Urea 2000Plus™ pool condenser and pool reactor technology, simplifying the design and construction and consequently lowering the investment cost. During this decade also the Safurex® material and Stamicarbon fluid-bed Granulation technology were developed.

2000 and beyond: Economy of scale is getting more and more important leading to the development of the Mega Plant technology for production capacities up to 5000 mtpd. Our most recent development is the Avancore® Process, which combines the advantages of Urea 2000Plus™, Safurex®, low plant height and results in the lowest total cost of ownership.