Ineos launches sanitiser business

Ineos used the occasion of the British Grand Prix on 1 August, where it was sponsoring the Mercedes team, to launch Ineos Hygienics, its new global healthcare business. This will be based at Newton Aycliffe, UK, and produce hospital grade hand gels, sanitiser sprays for hands and surfaces and sanitiser wipes out of the facilities the firm converted earliest this year here and in France, Germany and the US.

Ineos is Europe’s largest producer of ultra-high purity ethanol and isopropyl alcohol, the two main ingredients used in sanitiser products, and is also the only company that can supply these direct to consumers. They are formulated with 75% alcohol and are claimed to eliminate 99.9% of viruses and bacteria.

Ineos built the Newton Aycliffe facility before the end of March and supplied hospitals free of charge at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those in Germany, France and the US followed soon after. To date, it has delivered over 4 million bottles of sanitiser to hospitals.

Many other chemical producing and consuming companies who were already active in supplying the raw materials converted spare capacity or adapted lines for sanitiser production since February. They include Dow, BASF, Roquette, Hovione, Lanxess, Syngenta, Huntsman, Arkema and Firmenich, among many others.