Dyno Nobel has exploded and landed down under. Formerly based in Norway, Dyno Nobel was founded in 1865 by an associate of Swedish dynamite inventor and prize giver Alfred Nobel. The company makes explosives at more than 65 manufacturing and distribution facilities in Australia and North America. It sells to mining, construction, and industrial quarry companies, among other industries. Once split into four geographic segments (Asia Pacific, Europe and Africa, Latin America, and North America), Dyno Nobel was restructured in 2005. Three years later, Australian agrochem maker Incitec Pivot bought Dyno Nobel for about $3 billion.

CRI/Criterion Catalyst Company puts the pedal to the metal for the chemically challenged. The company acts as the European distributor for its parent, CRI Catalyst, which itself is a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell. Through its subsidiary, Criterion Catalysts & Technologies, CRI/Criterion Catalyst provides hydroprocessing chemicals used by petrochemical companies. In 2011 BASF Catalysts acquired CRI/Criterion's global styrene catalysts business in a move to expand into markets in the Middle East and China.

The Dead Sea has given life to Israel Chemicals Limited (ICL). That body of water is rich in bromine, potash, salt, and magnesium -- minerals that ICL turns into specialty and agrochemicals, among other products. Bromine commonly is used in flame retardants, and potash is a common fertilizer. The company accounts for a third of the world's bromine production and 10% of the world's potash. It is also a major producer of magnesium. Although most of the company's chemicals are produced in Israel (from the Dead Sea), it also mines for fertilizers in Spain and the UK. Investment firm Israel Corporation, controlled by The Ofer Group, owns 53% of ICL.

The US subsidiary of German giant Henkel KGaA, Henkel Corporation helps consumers stick to it in many parts of their lives and projects. The company operates through three business sectors: laundry and home care, cosmetics and toiletries, and adhesives technologies. Some of its well known brands are Dial soap, Loctite and Pattex adhesives, Sista sealants, Thomsit flooring adhesives, Right Guard antiperspirant, LA LOOKS hair gel, Soft Scrub cleaner, and Purex laundry detergent. Henkel manufactures and markets industrial and engineering adhesives and surface technologies, as well. The founding Henkel family controls the company.

Sasol Limited's Olefins and Surfactants unit (which itself is based in Germany). The division produces a number of commodity and specialty chemicals from its manufacturing sites and an R&D center in the US. Among the products made by Sasol North America are alcohols, alumina, paraffins, specialty surfactants, and fatty acid esters. Sasol North America is composed of what was once ConocoPhillips' chemicals unit, which was spun off as private company Vista Chemical in 1984, went public two years later, was purchased by RWE in 1991, and finally sold to Sasol in 2001.

Salt has preserved K+S (for Kali und Salz) for more than a century. Founded in 1889 to mine salt, K+S gets more than 40% of its sales from potash, which is extracted from salt and used in fertilizers. The company also produces salt used for industrial purposes (such as making glass), as well as for deicing roads and cooking. K+S is Germany's top salt producer and supplies about 12% of the world's potash. In addition, the company recycles waste materials and provides underground waste disposal services. In 2009 the company helped Dow pay for its acquisition of Rohm and Haas by agreeing to buy Morton Salt for about $1.7 billion. The deal makes K+S the world's #1 salt producer.

Spectra is all about the colors. Spectra Colors Corporation manufactures colorants and dyes for everything from Polaroid's imaging products to Samsung ink jets to Kiwi shoe polishes. The company, which was founded in 1987, maintains a laboratory, production area, and warehouse at its New Jersey headquarters and also has a distribution network that spans the globe.

EnviroSystems, Inc. (ESI), originally incorporated in 1996, began with a single goal — a focus on safe infection prevention technologies that the company believes will position ESI in the forefront of the industry at a time when there is rapidly growing awareness of the critical need to prevent biological risks — both natural and man-made. The Company has developed and has trade secret rights to what it believes to be a unique and proprietary chemical emulsion biocide technology platform. ESI produces cleaning and disinfecting products that it believes will help prevent the spread of infectious microorganisms while offering a favorable profile for health and environmental effects. This combination makes the resultant products ideal for use in a wide range of markets that are in need of disinfection with reduced threat to users and people in the use area, treated surfaces, and the environment in general.

Borealis is another shining light in the northern sky of plastics. The company is among the leading European makers of polyethylene and polypropylene, the most common plastic resins (and together known as polyolefins). Borealis also produces olefins, ethylene and propylene, and compounds plastic resins to meet desired characteristics, mainly for wire and cable makers. Its Borstar technology is used to support its polyethylene and polypropylene products. The International Petroleum Investment Company of Abu Dhabi (IPIC) owns 65% of Borealis and Austrian oil firm OMV controls the remaining 35%.

Compass Minerals International, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the production and marketing of inorganic mineral products in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The company operates in two segments, Salt and Specialty Fertilizer. The Salt segment produces salt and magnesium chloride for use in road deicing and dust control, food processing, water softeners, pool salt, and agricultural and industrial applications. This segment also purchases potassium chloride and sells as a finished product. The Specialty Fertilizer segment produces and markets potash crop nutrients and industrial grade sulfate of potash, which are used in the production of specialty fertilizers for vegetables, fruits, tea, potatoes, nuts, tobacco, and turf grass. The company operates a rock salt mine located in Goderich, Ontario; and the salt mine located in Winsford, the United Kingdom. It primarily serves producers of intermediate chemical products used in the production of vinyls and other chemicals, and pulp and paper, as well as water treatment and other industrial uses. The company markets its products through a direct sales force, and a network of brokers. It was formerly known as Salt Holdings Corporation and changed its name to Compass Minerals International, Inc. in November 2003. Compass Minerals International was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.