The history of the De Nora Group began in 1923 with the initiative of Oronzio De Nora. That year, Oronzio filed his first patent application for an electrolytic cell for alkali chlorides. The Group has focused on the electrochemical sector, emphasizing Chlor-alkali technologies.
After decades of manufacturing and selling highly successful electrochemical plants and commercializing at the end of the 1960s, the DSA® activated metal electrodes to replace graphite and lead (highly polluting and poor performance), the Group began a diversification process of its technological offering by entering new sectors.
In 1969, the Group began its territorial expansion by entering the Japanese market. Singapore, Brazil, India, China, and Germany, establishing joint ventures and subsidiaries to serve the growing number of local customers and provide an essential after-sales service.
During the 2000s, the Group continued its expansion also through acquisitions and joint ventures. The Group began a fundamental transformation from a small, specialized company into a multinational organization with a broad product portfolio, committed to a path of growth and guided by the sustainability of its technologies and energy-saving and to make clean water available to all. In particular, in 2001, Uhdenora S.p.A. was created to promote the chlorine-alkali plant business, an initial equal joint venture between Industrie De Nora and thyssenkrupp, which then became tkUhdeChlorine Engineers in 2015 and renamed thyssenkrupp nucera in February 2022. In the same year, a joint venture dedicated to the industrial electrochlorination sector, the Severn Trent De Nora, was created.
Between 2009 and 2010, De Nora expanded in Japan with two significant acquisitions from the Mitsui group in the electrode field, buying the shares of Permelec Electrode and Chlorine Engineers, active in plant engineering, then contributed to the JV with thyssenkrupp in 2015.
Starting in 2015, the Group began to expand its business in the water, wastewater treatment, and sanitation sector, giving birth to the Water Technologies Business, thanks to a series of acquisitions of several companies, including Severn Trent Water, with water treatment technologies.
In 2017, Blackstone Tactical Opportunities joined the De Nora family to accelerate growth by acquiring 32.9% of the share capital.
Between 2018 and 2019, the Group further expanded its production capacity by opening new manufacturing facilities in the United States and Germany.
In 2021, Snam S.p.A., one of the world's largest energy infrastructure operators and one of Italy's largest listed companies, acquired the entire stake in De Nora from Blackstone to become the industrial partner that accompanies De Nora in its growth in the energy transition, leveraging on its portfolio of solutions for the production of green hydrogen.