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.

Winton Products is into solving mysteries of gaseous proportions. The company produces chemical-type leak detectors for finding leaks in systems under gas or air pressure, including pipe joints, tube connections, air lines, cylinders, tanks, evaporators, and condensers. Product brands include Sherlock Fluids and Seamtest Concentrate Fluids.

I say, "potato chip." You say, "crisp." But we can all agree Pringles are sought after worldwide. Procter & Gamble Holdings UK, like its US parent The Procter & Gamble Company, manufactures and sells household care items (this includes its Pringles brand); beauty products (includes fragrances like Hugo Boss and Lacoste, cosmetic brand Max Factor, and skin care line Olay); and family health items (like Crest toothpaste and "disposable nappies" Pampers). Procter & Gamble operates more than a dozen locations in the UK, including administrative offices, technical centers, and manufacturing facilities. President Laurent Philippe succeeded Paul Polman, who retired in June 2005.

Not all chemicals are a naturalist's nightmare. Croda International gets most of its sales from its industrial specialties segment, primarily from oleochemicals (chemicals that are derived from natural oils). Other products made by that segment include polymer additives, coatings, and automotive and industrial lubricants. Its other segment is consumer care and includes products for the personal care, health care, and agricultural industries. For example, wool grease (more commonly known as lanolin) and its derivatives are used in nearly every cosmetic from lipstick to moisturizers as well as in medical care treatment products.

For UOP, it's not necessarily what you make, it's how you make it. The subsidiary of Honeywell's Specialty Materials segment develops and licenses technologies for processing chemicals. The technologies mainly are used in petroleum-derived products and chemicals (such as ethylene and propylene), but also in the manufacture of plastics, detergents, and fibers. Three-quarters of the world's ethylene production is made using UOP technologies. UOP also produces catalysts, alumina adsorbents (used to purify gas and dry air), and molecular sieves. Until 2005 it had been a joint venture of Honeywell and Union Carbide (which is owned by Dow Chemical).

AgraQuest sweats the small stuff. The company's proprietary database of more than 23,000 microorganisms is the base for its line of pest control and plant disease-fighting products. AgraQuest's products fight plant pests and diseases with naturally occurring microorganisms that offer environmental advantages over synthetic chemical pesticides and genetically modified crops. The company's product offerings include Serenade, a biofungicide that is approved for use on crops such as grapes, apples, pears, and tomatoes; Rhapsody, a fungicide used in the professional ornamental plant market; and Baritone, a pesticide. AgraQuest has about 20 other natural pest management products in the pipeline.

Chem-Pak packs a chemical punch into its private-label products. The company provides contract chemical manufacturing services for specialty coatings, cleaners, paints, music accessories (instrument cleaners), lubricants, and degreasers. Chem-Pak also provides packaging services for steel aerosol cans and specialty filling of aluminum tubes, pails, and drums. It operates from a facility in West Virginia.

From poisoning garden pests to exfoliating dry skin, Lonza puts itself in the middle of things. As the US operations of its parent company, Lonza accounts for about a third of the Lonza Group's $2.5 billion in annual sales. While Lonza doesn't actually make consumer products, the company provides chemical ingredients and intermediates for the personal care, water treatment, pharmaceutical, and plastics industries, from its nine manufacturing and R&D locations throughout the US.

RUTGERS Chemicals GmbH Company Profile Calling it chemically dependent won't turn this knight scarlet. RUTGERS Chemicals main operations include the manufacture of pitches from coal tar, napthalene, and industrial oils. Its downstream activities use those raw materials to make aromatic chemicals, performance products, and plasticizers. RUTGERS' eight manufacturing sites are located in Europe and North America and serve makers of adhesives, aluminum, coatings, plastics, and tires. The company's subsidiaries include Canadian dispersants maker Handy Chemicals and VFT, which makes aromatics from plants in Belgium, Canada, and Poland. RUTGERS had been a part of German industrial conglomerate Evonik until 2008, when investment group TRITON acquired it.

XGel may sound like something emitted from one of Professor Charles Xavier's students, but in reality it's Meldex International's super power. The British company manufactures XGel for the pharmaceutical industry as a replacement for gelatin in drug capsules. Meldex's water-soluble, biodegradable films have also been used by the health care industry, in environmentally friendly feminine hygiene products, and for a new line of paintballs. It also makes a breath-freshening film for toothpaste. The company operated as BioProgress until late 2007 when it changed its name.

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