A courageous entrepreneur.

The birth of the SISAS Group dates back to 1947, when the founder, Giacomo Falciola, constructed a plant between Pioltello and Rodano, then a rural area close to Milan.

The factory's initial activity was based on acetylene chemistry using calcium carbide as the raw material.

Then from the beginning of the 1950s, due to an important technological advance, acetylene was produced from methane by means of the innovative BASF process. SISAS was in fact the first Italian company, and indeed one of the first companies in the world, to use methane as a raw material in the production of chemicals.

In the 1950s and 1960s SISAS started manufacturing acetylene derivatives, extending both the variety and the volumes produced.

During the second half of the 1960s SISAS began production of phthalic anhydride and plasticizers. It was the start of a new era for SISAS, now destined to play an active role in the international chemical market.

The oil crisis and the shift to intermediates.

The oil crisis in the early 1970s put an end to the production of acetylene from methane and the production of its derivatives-acetaldehyde, acetic acid, ethyl acetate, and vinyl acetate monomer- ceased in 1977.

The company changed course.

Thanks to a strategic decision to invest heavily in research, SISAS developed a unique process for the production of isophthalic acid, which until then had been manufactured only by one large multinational company.

In the 1970s and 1980s the company increased production of phthalic anhydride, plasticizers, butyl and isobutyl acetates and vinyl acetate emulsions. SISAS started to produce nonyl phenol, methyl isobutyl ketone, diacetone alcohol, isophorone, methyl isobutyl carbinol, hexylene glycol and sorbitol: today the total installed capacity for all products at Pioltello-Rodano is 250,000 tonne/year.

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