Founded in 1873 by John Brunner and Ludwig Mond and incorporated in 1881, the business became the largest producer of soda ash in the world during the 1890s.
During the early 1990s, ICI opted to separate and demerge some of its soda ash businesses as Brunner Mond Holdings Limited.
The firm acquired British Salt during December 2010 and opened the first industrial-scale carbon capture and usage plant in the UK in 2022.
[8][14] Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, energy costs doubled; as soda ash is energy intensive to produce, the firm responded via the purchase of a gas-fired combined heat & power plant from the European utility firm E.ON and the closure of its soda ash plant in Winnington in early 2014.
[15][16] Furthermore, while soda ash had typically been responsible for generating around 90 percent of the firm's profits, the company opted to pursue diversification; this decision led to the creation of the world’s first standalone sodium bicarbonate plant.
[16][8] Another step towards diversification came in December 2010 when Brunner Mond B. V. acquired British Salt, a Cheshire-based brine supplier, for around £93 million; this vertical acquisition gave longer term raw commodity price certainty and an economy of transport distance for one of the company's largest factories.
[2] Two years later, Tata Chemicals Europe chose to end the production of soda ash at its Lostock site in favour of a new facility (built at a cost of £60 million) in Northwich;[21][22] this closure also caused the neighbouring Imerys Winnofil plant which relies on raw materials from Tata Chemicals Europe to also cease production in early 2025.