Merichem Company was founded in 1945 with a good idea: recovering and manufacturing cresylic acids from refinery co-products. By 1949, the small chemical firm was producing cresylic acids and sodium sulfides at a facility near the ship channel in Houston, Texas, USA. Previously available only from coal tar, these important intermediate chemicals rapidly won wide market acceptance because of their high performance. Over the years, Merichem expanded and diversified into businesses for technology and equipment, as well as other chemical products. In 1997, Merichem’s phenolics business was placed in a joint venture with Saso