UK

Airedale Chemical has reported massive increases in the demand for phosphonates, which it attributes to evolving cleaning practices and legislation changes.

The specialist chemical company launched Airquest, own range of phosphonates ten years ago, specifically aimed at water treatment, detergency and metal treatment. Sales have increased year on year but quarter one of 2017 promises its most successful year yet with figures up a huge 218%.

Airedale Chemical’s largest market sector is within detergent manufacturing, accounting for 65% of all Airquest phosphonate sales in 2016.

“We were tweaking formulas for one of our biggest phosphonate customers and recognised that these products could be of value to other companies too,” said head of marketing, Daniel Marr. “We now have five products in the Airquest range of varying strengths developed for the detergent, personal care, textile, water treatment, metal processing, pulp and paper and oil and gas industries where they are used in scale and corrosion control, bleach stabilisation, calcium carbonate inhibitors and as a sequestrant in cosmetics.”