Umberto Zardi

OBITUARY

Umberto Zardi

It is with great sadness that we report the death of Dr. Umberto Zardi, who passed away on March 17th 2025 at his home in Breganzona, Lugano, Switzerland. Dr Zardi was an innovator in the nitrogen industry and for many years the president and driving force behind Ammonia Casale, now simply Casale SA, becoming responsible for its revival and transformation into the global engineering and technology giant that it is today.

Born in Bologna in 1929, Umberto Zardi graduated in mechanical engineering, before beginning his career with Montecatini in Milan in 1954 to handle the development, engineering and marketing of urea technology as part of the company’s inorganic division. For a decade he worked in research and technological development there, before moving in 1964 to Snamprogetti, where he successfully developed the total recycle stripping technology for the urea process, helping to make Snamprogetti one of the largest licensees for urea in the world.

He remained head of the company’s inorganic engineering division until 1978 when, together with former Snamprogetti CEO Francesco Salimbeni, he was part of the refinancing of Ammonia Casale after its purchase by Salimbeni’s new Ingeco Group, and put in charge of the company’s revitalisation. Luigi Casale had been one of the pioneers of ammonia technology back in the 1920s, developing his own high pressure variant on the Haber-Bosch process in 1920, and in 1921 he founded Ammonia Casale at Lugano in Switzerland. The company had been very successful in ammonia licensing, with 120 plants built using its technology, but Luigi Casale had died an untimely death in 1927 and after the war the company had drifted with a lack of investment and had seen its lead overtaken by the newer higher capacity plants using the Kellogg ammonia process.

Zardi surrounded himself with a group of nearly two dozen talented young engineers and specialists in ammonia and fertilizer technology at Via della Posta no.4 in Lugano, and together with “the boys of Via della Posta”, he formed the core of a revival in the company based on a renewed focus on technological development. In 1983 Casale patented its axial-radial flow reactor, which became a key offering, with more than 250 reactors of this type eventually built all over the world. Zardi and his group pushed hard at innovating across a range of related technologies, eventually forming Urea Casale in 1991, Methanol Casale in 1994 and Casale Chemicals in 1995, all eventually consolidated into Casale SA in 2014, which continues to promote the modernisation and construction of new plants, as licensee, designer, and builder, branching into nitric acid, NPKs, melamine and, via its 2014 acquisition of Chemoprojekt AS, engineering, procurement and construction contracting.

Following the success of the axial-radial flow reactor, Casale, Zardi and collaborator Giorgio Pagani filed numerous industrial patents, including 27 for ammonia and 18 for urea. Even after his formal retirement, Zardi still held the position of honorary president of Casale SA, and was frequently seen in the company’s offices, an example to and stimulus for all Casale personnel.

Speaking from personal experience, he was also a highly personable and generous man, and I can only echo the sentiments expressed in Casale’s own obituary of Dr Zardi, that: “Umberto Zardi’s qualities of inventiveness, passion, business acumen, and tenacity were profound, yet it was his generosity and ethical standards that truly distinguished him. His commitment to innovation and quality has set new standards, driving us toward a more sustainable and efficient future. He was a beacon for many, and his teachings continue to inspire our corporate identity. The values he instilled- integrity, perseverance, excellence, and innovation – are the pillars upon which we stand to meet future challenges. His legacy is furthered by the leadership of his son, Federico Zardi, the current CEO of Casale, who continues to guide our company with the same passion and vision.”