Clariant obtains several million tons of bentonite per year from its worldwide extraction sites. About one quarter of these mines are located in Germany, and about one half are located in Europe. Important European surface mining operations of Clariant are located in the south of Bavaria, in Sardinia, Spain, and Turkey.

In Gammelsdorf, Germany, 15 distinct qualities of bentonite are mined. These are transported to Moosburg, the largest site of the Business Unit Functional Minerals, and further processed into various products such as bleaching earths, foundry and drilling additives and paper additives.

Unlike in the deposits of other ores (e.g. lignite), the bentonite layer is on average only 1.5 meters thick, and extraction leaves behind only barely visible depressions in the topography. After extraction, the re-naturation of the land begins. Layers of stones, gravel and topsoil are poured with a bulldozer back into the minesite in their natural order. During the process, it is very important that the water supply and drainage are maintained before the land is re-cultivated. The last step consists of depositing of carefully layered topsoil and the shaping and cultivation of the land.

In moderate climates, bentonite must be dried by means of thermal heating. This process has been successfully converted to solar drying at a mining site in Sardinia, Italy. Because of this, emissions of 2 000 tons of CO₂ per year are eliminated in a first step. Additionally, the number of required truck trips were reduced in the process by a distance of 40 000 kilometers because sundried bentonite exhibits smaller volume. In addition, dependence on fossil fuels and their price fluctuations were eliminated for the future. This process will be extended to additional suitable individual locations.

Packaging for medical and pharmaceutical products must satisfy the strictest requirements for quality and control of changes. In addition, the packaging must also exhibit the functions that are adapted to the specific claims of the products, including oxygen barrier, moisture adsorption and regulation, light barrier, aroma enhancement, odor adsorption, anti-bacterial and anti-static.

Ideally, active and passive components are already integrated in the packaging during manufacture. In the process, components such as sachets or canisters are added to the existing packaging or in some cases functionality can be mixed into the polymer used to produce the packaging component using a masterbatch (concentrate) in a single layer or one layer of a multilayer structure. This functionality can be combined with colors.

For modifying the polymer used packaging material, Clariant offers with MEVOPUR® a range of solutions for this area. MEVOPUR® is manufactured in production facilities on three continents. In all facilities, the strict separation of product lines is observed. This helps to reduce the risk that products contain undesired material traces, and thereby functions that are not expressly intended. At these designated sites, the processes are verified and validated under the ISO standard 13485 for the design and manufacture of medicinal products. This drives a closer collaboration throughout the entire value chain consistently delivers the impulse for improvements for Clariant, for suppliers and for customers.