What Kolene Corporation does

Kolene Corporation, founded in 1939 and headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, is a privately held specialty industrial chemistry and engineered equipment company that develops and applies proprietary molten salt bath technology for cleaning, descaling, and surface treatment of metal components. Its core technology involves high-temperature thermochemical processes using proprietary salt formulations to remove oxides, scales, coatings, and other contaminants from metal surfaces without solvents, water, or mechanical methods, with capabilities spanning complex internal passages and geometries that alternative methods cannot address. The product portfolio encompasses cleaning chemicals (Kolene, Kastech, DGS, Koliquid, Recover, Iso-Strip), heat treat salts (Iso-Therm, Iso-Heat, Iso-Braze, Iso-Blackening, quench oils), ferritic nitrocarburizing chemistry (FNC-Base, FNC-Regen, QS), custom-engineered cleaning and nitriding systems, replacement parts, and the Upton Industries line of heat treat furnaces acquired in October 2021.

The business operates a sales-led, enterprise field-sales model with direct engagement from technical sales representatives and dedicated email channels for chemical orders, replacement parts, and service. Revenue is generated across four streams: one-time custom equipment sales and project management, recurring chemical sales (consumable tail tied to installed equipment), replacement parts for molten salt bath systems, and professional services including on-site field service, commercial processing at the Detroit facility, and lab testing. Kolene serves five primary verticals — Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Foundry, Stainless Steel/General Manufacturing, and Military — with named customers including the U.S. Navy (since World War II), U.S. Army Depots, aerospace casting manufacturer Aristo-Cast, and unspecified auto suppliers. Geographic reach spans 25+ countries across 6 continents via exclusive distribution partnerships with Durferrit GmbH in Europe and Parker Corporation across East and Southeast Asia. Operations are run from a Detroit headquarters and a Roseville, Michigan manufacturing facility (Upton Industries), with the leadership team consisting of dual COOs Timothy D. Shoemaker and Peter L. Shoemaker as of January 2025.

Name

Kolene Corporation

Legal name

Kolene Corporation

Website

https://kolene.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1939

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Kolene Corporation is a Detroit-based, privately held specialty industrial chemistry and engineered equipment company that applies proprietary molten salt bath technology to clean, descale, and surface-treat metal components for aerospace, automotive, foundry, steel, and military customers across 25+ countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industrial Metal Cleaning & Surface Treatment

NAICS

Soap and Cleaning Compound Manufacturing (32561), Chemical Manufacturing (325)

SIC

Specialty Cleaning, Polishing And Sanitation Preparations (2842), Miscellaneous Chemical Products (2890)

akta.pro primary industry

Water Treatment & Process Specialty Chemicals (IMAEABAN)

Keywords

• Molten salt cleaning
• Industrial metal cleaning
• Heat treatment chemicals
• Ferritic nitrocarburizing
• Paint stripping chemicals

Headquarters

HQ city

Detroit

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Equipment Sales and Project Management: Kolene designs and engineers custom-purpose process equipment including cleaning systems, nitriding systems, and heat treat equipment. Equipment sales include batch systems, unitized systems, electrolytic salt baths, Kontinuous paint stripping systems, and metal descaling systems.
2. Chemical Sales: Sale of proprietary chemical formulations including cleaning chemicals (KGC, KLC, Kolene No. 1-10, Kastech family), heat treat chemicals (Iso-Therm, Iso-Heat, Iso-Braze), and specialty products (FNC salts, Recover, SMS).
3. Technical Services and Commercial Processing: On-site technical services including equipment setup, maintenance, troubleshooting, and operator training. Commercial processing services offered at Detroit headquarters for casting cleaning, paint stripping, and other specialized treatments.
4. Replacement Parts: Sale of replacement parts for molten salt bath equipment including heating elements, thermocouples, burner tubes, agitator props, sparging rings, and other critical components. The company maintains a spare parts warehouse for prompt delivery.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Kolene Corporation designs and manufactures custom-engineered molten salt bath cleaning equipment, formulates and sells proprietary specialty chemical products, and provides complete metal surface treatment processes for industrial cleaning, descaling, paint stripping, casting cleaning, and ferritic nitrocarburizing applications. The company also performs outsourced commercial processing and offers field/lab technical services. Customers span aerospace, automotive, military, foundry, stainless steel and general manufacturing industries across 25+ countries.

Product overview

Kolene Corporation offers a comprehensive portfolio of industrial metal surface cleaning and heat treatment solutions built around proprietary molten salt bath technology. The portfolio includes three core chemical lines (Kolene® cleaning chemicals for general use, Kastech® casting-specific chemicals for investment, sand, and ceramic removal, and Koliquid® liquid formulations for automated systems), ferritic nitrocarburizing chemistry (FNC-Base™, FNC-Regen™, QS™), heat treat salts (Iso-Therm, Iso-Braze, Iso-Heat, quench oils), and paint/coating removal products (Recover®, Kontinuous™, Iso-Strip). Equipment offerings encompass cleaning systems, nitriding systems, replacement parts, and the acquired Upton Industries heat treat equipment brand. Services include commercial processing, field services, and lab services. Specialized technologies include Scalex® for scale conditioning without molten salt bath and Oxigen-X® for high-strength steel pickling enhancement. The company also acquired Upton Industries in October 2021 to expand into thermal processing systems.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Kolene®: Core brand for molten salt cleaning technologies, equipment, and process chemicals
• Kastech®
• Recover®
• Kontinuous™
• Scalex®
• Oxigen-X®
• DGS®
• Koliquid®
• Upton™
• Extreme Cleaning Technologies®

Products and services

• Cleaning Systems Custom-engineered high-temperature salt bath cleaning systems utilizing thermochemical processes for alloy descaling, casting cleaning, and paint stripping. Available in batch, unitized, and continuous configurations for aerospace, automotive, military, and industrial manufacturers.
• Nitriding Systems Salt bath nitriding systems for performing ferritic nitrocarburizing processes, with prewash stations, preheat ovens, and fully ventilated nitriding salt bath furnaces. Available in multiple configurations with manual or automated operation.
• Replacement Parts High-quality replacement parts for molten salt bath equipment including heating elements, thermocouples, burner tubes, igniters, agitators, sludge pans, sparging rings, and temperature management systems.
• Upton Industries Heat Treat Equipment Thermal processing systems including salt bath, batch, pit, and specialty furnaces. Upton pioneered the submerged electrode design for electric salt bath furnaces and offers high-efficiency gas-fired and electric heating systems with advanced protective atmosphere control.
• Kontinuous™ Paint Stripping Systems Custom-designed in-line paint stripping systems installed in paint and powder coating conveyor lines, providing stripped racks every pass at normal line speeds without spare racks or labor-intensive rack changes. Kontinuous™ Plus variant includes a dedicated pass-line for hooks and racks plus independent manual reject parts stripping.
• Recover® Equipment Patented organic fluid heating equipment for the Recover paint stripping process, operating at 300-325°F with adjacent water tank for parts cooling and rinsing.
• SMS™ Sludge Management System Comprehensive system for managing reaction by-products from cleaning salt baths that safely dissolves solidified alkaline sludge, adjusts pH, reduces sludge volume, and precipitates heavy metals to produce potentially non-hazardous filter cake.
• Kolene® Cleaning Chemicals (No. 1, No. 5, No. 6, No. 10, No. 10W) Versatile descaling and cleaning chemical series for stainless steels, nickel alloys, superalloys, paint stripping, engine component cleaning, and polymer removal. Includes Kolene No. 1 for descaling, No. 5 for paint stripping, No. 6 for carbon/oil removal during engine remanufacture, and No. 10/10W for polymer removal in synthetic fiber industry.
• FNC Salt Bath Nitrocarburizing Chemistry (FNC-Base, FNC-Regen, QS) Proprietary blend of alkali cyanates (FNC-Base) meeting SAE AMS-2753C standards for salt bath ferritic nitrocarburizing, FNC-Regen (nitrogen-carbon polymer based on melamine) for restoring nitriding potential, and QS quench chemistry for controlling cooling rate and neutralizing cyanide compounds.
• Kastech® Casting Cleaning Chemicals Family of molten salt processes for investment casting cleaning including Kastech AL750 for aluminum, Alpha 400 for pH control rinsing, Basic for general investment removal, Ceram-X for complex castings, Electrolytic for cast iron sand/graphite removal, and Ultra for very complex/low reactivity ceramic removal.
• Alko Cleaning Chemicals (Alko-N, Alko-Plus, Alko-S) Scale conditioning and lubricant removal chemical line for titanium substrates, including Alko-N for precious metal coating removal and descaling/cleaning variants Alko-Plus and Alko-S for metal substrates.
• DGS® Descaling Compositions Versatile descaling compositions for stainless steels, nickel alloys, and superalloys. Removes hot forming and anneal scales as well as residual lubricants such as glass and moly disulfide. Appropriate for batch and continuous anneal and pickle applications.
• Koliquid® Liquid Descaling Formulations Proprietary descaling formulations supplied in bulk as concentrated liquid solutions (Koliquid No. 1 and Koliquid DGS) that allow salt additions to be made automatically to high-production continuous anneal and pickle lines.
• KGC™ and KLC™ Cleaning Chemicals Proprietary organic acid blend for general purpose cleaning and brightening of metals. KGC is the powder form and KLC is the comparable liquid version for easy mixing and automated additions. Effective on carbon steel, stainless steel, and red metal alloys.
• Virgo™ Scale Conditioning Salts Scale conditioning salt line (Virgo A, GS, R) used for stainless and superalloy conditioning, chromium carbide and tungsten carbide removal, and jet engine hot section conditioning.
• Recover® Paint Stripping Chemicals Patented multi-metal paint and powder removal process (Recover 5000, Recover 5000 E Stripper, Recover Reactivator) for salvaging defectively-coated components. Effective on e-coat, powder, liquid, and multi-coat finishes. Compatible with ferrous, galvanized, zinc, magnesium, aluminum, and copper alloys.
• Iso-Strip Paint Stripping Chemicals (Iso-Strip, Iso-Strip LTS, Denamel) Oxidizing salt paint strippers including Iso-Strip (working range 427-510°C), Iso-Strip LTS for low temperature die/mold cleaning, and Denamel for porcelain enamel removal from ferrous substrates at approximately 900°F.
• Iso-Descaling Alkaline-based oxidizing salt designed for the removal of scale and oxides formed during heat treatment of alloys. Melt point 263°C; working range 399-538°C (750-1,000°F).
• Specialty Cleaning Chemicals (Moly, KQW, 6-2-3 Reducing Agent) Specialty cleaning chemicals including Moly for reactive refractory metals (molybdenum/tungsten), KQW for polymer removal in synthetic fiber industry (nylon, polyester from spinnerettes and filter packs), and 6-2-3 Reducing Agent for hexavalent chromium treatment in alkaline water waste streams.
• Heat Treat Chemical Line (Iso-Therm, Iso-Heat, Iso-Braze, Iso-Blackening, Quench Oils) Heat treat chemical product line including Iso-Therm (multiple variants 135-220) for isothermal quenching and tempering, Iso-Heat (multiple variants 454-955) for hardening/annealing/normalized, Iso-Braze (460, 520) for aluminum brazing, Iso-Blackening/Iso-D-Blackening for black oxide finish, and PT Quench Oil 100 and Park Martemp Oil for quench operations.
• Scalex® Scale Conditioning Technology Scale conditioning technology that produces exceptional conditioning results without conventional molten salt bath. Designed for continuous anneal and pickle lines and adaptable for large alloy components as a 'coat and bake' scale conditioner.
• Oxigen-X® Descaling Process Ancillary descaling process used in conjunction with hydrochloric acid pickling to significantly increase pickling rates for high alloy strata in Advanced High-Strength Steels containing aluminum, carbon, chromium, manganese, molybdenum, silicon, and titanium.
• Commercial Processing Services Outsourced metal cleaning services at Detroit headquarters including Kolene Recover paint stripping, Kastech Electrolytic iron casting cleaning, Kastech AL750 aluminum investment cleaning, Kastech Ultra glass removal, and ferrous investment casting cleaning.
• Field Services On-site technical services including equipment installation, maintenance, troubleshooting, preventative maintenance inspections, and operator training delivered by field technicians with over 90 years of combined experience.
• Lab Services Comprehensive testing and analysis services including wet chemistry (carbonate, cyanide, nitrate, metal content via ICP-OES), metallurgical analysis (optical microscopy, hardness testing), borescope inspection, profilometry, and particle size distribution.

Quantifiable outcome

• Cleaning of iron castings in minutes compared to hours with old technology
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and regional.

• Upton IndustriescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 October 2021Kolene Corporation acquired Upton Industries, a company specializing in thermal processing systems for the metal heat treat industry, headquartered in Detroit. This strategic move expanded Kolene's revenue segments and manufacturing capabilities. Upton Industries has been a leader in molten salt bath equipment since 1937, pioneering the submerged electrode design for electric salt bath furnaces.
• Durferrit GmbHregionalChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorWorldwide affiliation partner for Europe. Located in Mannheim, Germany. Distributes Kolene products including nitriding salts in the European market. Contact: [email protected].
• Parker CorporationregionalChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorWorldwide affiliation partner for Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Southeast Asia, and India. Located in Tokyo, Japan. Contact: Kay Kaneko, Manager of Chemical Dept.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Atotech (Element Solutions): Atotech, now part of Element Solutions, is a large specialty chemicals supplier for surface finishing, plating, and electronics. While electronics-focused, its industrial surface treatment portfolio overlaps with Kolene's metal cleaning and conditioning chemistries.
• Quaker Houghton: Quaker Houghton (formerly Houghton International) is a global leader in industrial process fluids including heat treat quench oils, metalworking fluids, and surface treatment chemistries. It is one of the largest specialty industrial chemical companies serving Kolene's same metal manufacturing customers with adjacent (rather than directly competing) chemistries.
• Ipsen (Ipsen International): Ipsen designs and manufactures industrial heat treat furnaces and vacuum/processing equipment for aerospace, medical, and energy markets. Comparable to Kolene/Upton in industrial furnace engineering, with overlapping aerospace heat treat customer base and global field service network.
• Seco/Warwick (SECO/WARWICK Group): SECO/WARWICK is a major global manufacturer of industrial heat treatment furnaces and thermal processing equipment, including atmosphere and vacuum furnaces. It is a direct comparable to Kolene's Upton Industries subsidiary in industrial heat treat capital equipment, serving automotive, aerospace, and steel customers.
• MacDermid Enthone Electronics Solutions (Element Solutions): MacDermid Enthone, also under Element Solutions, supplies specialty chemistries for surface finishing, plating, and industrial cleaning. Comparable broad incumbent in industrial metal surface treatment with overlapping descaling and metal cleaning chemical lines.
• Chemetall (BASF Coatings division / BASF): Chemetall (now part of BASF) supplies surface treatment and metal finishing chemistry for aerospace, automotive, and coil applications. Comparable to Kolene's descaling, paint stripping, and pre-treatment chemical lines in industrial metal cleaning applications.
• Henkel (Loctite industrial): Henkel's industrial adhesives and surface treatment portfolio includes metal pre-treatment, cleaners, and coating-removal chemistries. Comparable as a broad incumbent in industrial metal cleaning/surface treatment, though with a much wider product breadth than Kolene's specialty salt chemistry.

Direct peers

• Hubbard-Hall: Hubbard-Hall is a U.S. specialty chemical manufacturer focused on metal finishing, surface preparation, and industrial cleaning chemistries. Comparable in customer base (industrial metal manufacturers) and overlapping product categories (cleaners, descaling, paint stripping).
• Durferrit GmbH (HEF Group): HEF/Durferrit is Kolene's most direct peer: a German-headquartered specialist in salt bath nitriding, ferritic nitrocarburizing chemistry, and molten salt heat treatment salts. Durferrit is Kolene's own European channel partner and competes head-to-head in global FNC/salt-bath chemistry markets.
• Heatbath / Park Metallurgical: Heatbath/Park Metallurgical is a U.S. specialty chemical manufacturer of metal finishing, heat treat, and surface preparation chemistries, including salt bath and aqueous cleaning products. A direct niche competitor to Kolene's industrial cleaning and heat treat chemical lines in North America.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Kolene Corporation