Novozymes A/S might have had a hand in brewing your beer, washing the mustard stain off your shirt, turning corn into ethanol for your car, or even treating your medical condition. The company produces more than 700 kinds of enzymes, microorganisms, biopolymers, and proteins used by more than 40 industries in 130 countries worldwide. Its enzymes are used in detergents, foods, animal feed, and other industrial and commercial products. The firm's microorganisms are used in wastewater treatment, and its proteins and biopolymers are used in pharmaceuticals. Novozymes is a sister company to Novo Nordisk, and the not-for-profit Novo Nordisk Foundation controls a majority of Novozymes' voting stock.

Kuraray's synthetics are for real. The diversified company manufactures chemicals and resins (about half of sales, including copolymer EVAL used in food packaging) and synthetic fibers and textiles (man-made leather, nonwoven fabrics, rayon, and polyester). It also offers engineering and consulting services. Kuraray pioneered the commercialization of several synthetic fibers and resins -- such as its KURALON and Poval products -- for industrial uses. The company, which does most of its business in Japan, is made up of about 80 companies operating in Asia, Europe, and North America.

Dyno Nobel Inc. is the North American unit of explosives maker Dyno Nobel. The company, which operates more than 50 manufacturing and distribution facilities throughout the continent, is North America's leading supplier of explosives. Primary customers include mining, construction, and industrial quarry companies. Its former parent company, the Norwegian private equity firm Industrie Kapital, divided the parent company in 2005 and sold the Australian and North American operations to Macquarie Bank. Rival Orica acquired the other operations. Dyno Nobel remains the world's second-largest explosives producer behind Orica, though it was acquired by Australian agrochem maker Incitec Pivot in 2008.

NOVA Chemicals Corporation muscles into a long line of plastic products. The company makes ethylene, polyethylene, and performance styrenics used in the manufacture of plastic and foam products. Applications include packaging, plastic bags, appliances, electronics, housewares, and plastic pipe. Through its INEOS NOVA joint venture (with INEOS), the company was one of the world's largest producers of styrene monomer and styrenic polymers. However, in 2010 INEOS announced it was buying out NOVA's 50% share of INEOS NOVA in favor of a new venture with BASF SE. The US and Canada account for 80% of NOVA's sales. It's owned by Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Co., or IPIC.

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.

ASHTA Chemicals Inc. opened its corporate offices in Ashtabula, Ohio in 1992, although, under previous owners, this site has been operating since the early 1960's. Since then, ASHTA management has taken a number of steps which positioned the company for profitable growth. These steps include the purchase of Olin's potassium products business in 1993, designing and implementing a closed loop, zero discharge water treatment system for this Lake Erie site in 1994-5, and construction of a new potassium carbonate plant in 1995. In sales and marketing, our focus is on markets and products which provide sustained, profitable growth for our core potassium hydroxide chemistry. Additionally, our product distribution system was significantly expanded in 1998 to provide ample product in key chemical markets. From Ashtabula, we service our customers from six production sites, 19 liquid terminals, and 5 warehouses, strategically located in the United States and Canada.

Boero Bartolomeo has it covered. Through its subsidiaries, the holding company manufactures paints, varnishes, and resins for houses and yachts. Its Boero Colori France and Rover Colori E Vernici subsidiaries (both wholly owned) manufacture paints for the yachting, decorative, and do-it-yourself sectors. Other operations include Boero Colori (paints for the retail, building, and anticorrosion markets), Boher (coil coating), and Boat SpA (marine and protective coatings). Chairman Andreina Boero and her family control Boero Bartolomeo; Italian financial firm ADR has a 17% stake in the company.

Rodda Paint, one of the largest paint manufacturers in the Pacific Northwest, makes paints and other coatings that it sells in its 45 stores located throughout Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. In the summer of 2004 Rodda joined forces with an even larger regional paints maker, Canadian company Cloverdale Paint. The two companies merged operations but planned to keep using separate names in their respective countries and to maintain separate management teams. Art Rodda founded Rodda Paint in 1932.

Enerchem International provides oilfield services and energy marketing. The company makes hydrocarbon-based well-servicing fluids for oil and gas drilling and processing equipment. It supplies conventional and heavy oil production plants, natural gas processing plants, pipelines, and compressor stations. Enerchem's Fracsol brand is one of the most widely used fracturing fluids. Its energy marketing activities include the sale of crude oil by-products from its plants. In 2005 the company sold its specialty chemicals operations to M-I Swaco's Canadian drilling fluids unit in order to concentrate on its hydrocarbon fluids business. The next year it bought energy industry transportation company Millard Trucking.

Monsanto Company provides agricultural products for farmers in the United States and internationally. It has two segments, Seeds and Genomics, and Agricultural Productivity. The Seeds and Genomics segment produces corn, soybeans, canola, wheat, and cotton seeds, as well as vegetable and fruit seeds, including tomato, pepper, eggplant, melon, cucumber, pumpkin, squash, beans, broccoli, onions, and lettuce. This segment also develops biotechnology traits that assist farmers in controlling insects and weeds, as well as provide genetic material and biotechnology traits to other seed companies for their seed brands. The Agricultural Productivity segment offers glyphosate-based herbicides for agricultural, industrial, ornamental, and turf applications; lawn-and-garden herbicides for residential lawn-and-garden applications; and other selective herbicides for control of preemergent annual grass and small seeded broadleaf weeds in corn and other crops. The company offers its products under various brands, including the Roundup Ready, Bollgard, Bollgard II, YieldGard, YieldGard VT, Roundup Ready 2 Yield, and SmartStax for traits; DEKALB, Asgrow, Deltapine, and Vistive for row crop seeds; Seminis, De Ruiter, Royal Sluis, Asgrow, and Petoseed for vegetable seeds; Roundup for herbicides; and Harness for corn. It also licenses germplasm and trait technologies to seed companies. The company sells its products through distributors, retailers, dealers, agricultural co-operatives, plant raisers, and agents, as well as directly to farmers. Monsanto Company has a joint venture with Cargill, Inc. to commercialize a proprietary grain processing technology under the name Extrax. It has collaborations with BASF in plant biotechnology that focuses on high-yielding crops and crops that are tolerant to adverse conditions; and Biotechnology, Inc. to source genetic elements that enable crops to express desirable traits. The company was founded in 2000 and is based in St. Louis, Missouri.

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