Divestitures - Additional Information (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands						3 Months Ended										12 Months Ended
		Dec. 14, 2016	Feb. 01, 2016	Jan. 04, 2016	Sep. 01, 2014	Dec. 31, 2016		Sep. 30, 2016	[1]	Jun. 30, 2016	[1]	Mar. 31, 2016	[1]	Dec. 31, 2015	Mar. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2016		Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Cash proceeds from divestitures, net																$ 3,325,571		$ 8,883	$ 104,718
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income																(84,371)		(2,144)	17,889
Actuarial (losses) gains						$ (26,700)								$ 30,100
Loss on disposal of businesses, before income taxes																510,278		0	(85,515)
Gain on sales of businesses, net						0	[1]	$ 0		$ (974)		$ (121,324)				(122,298)		0	0
Chemetall Surface Treatment
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Cash proceeds from divestitures, net		$ 3,100,000
Gain on sale of business, before income taxes																(387,980)		0
Gain on sale of business, net of tax						$ 135,000
Actuarial (losses) gains	[2]															(8,500)		$ 8,900
Tax expense on gain on sale of business																253,000
Antioxidant, Ibuprofen and Propofol Assets
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Cash proceeds from divestitures, net					$ 104,700
Working capital settlement															$ 7,600
Loss on disposal of businesses, before income taxes																			85,500
Loss on disposal of businesses, net of tax																			65,700
Cumulative foreign currency translation gains included in pre-tax impairment charge																			$ 17,800
Metal Sulfides Business
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Cash proceeds from divestitures, net				$ 137,000
Gain on sales of businesses, net																(11,500)
Mineral Flame Retardants and Specialty Chemicals Businesses
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Cash proceeds from divestitures, net			$ 187,000
Gain on sales of businesses, net																$ (112,300)
Magnifin Magnesiaprodukte GmbH & Co. KG
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Ownership percentage			50.00%			0.00%	[3]							50.00%		0.00%	[3]	50.00%	50.00%
Corporate | Wafer Reclaim
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Gain on sales of businesses, net																$ 1,500
Foreign Currency Translation
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income																$ (81,421)	[4]	$ (27)	$ 17,614	[4]

[1] Included in Gain on sales of businesses, net for the year ended December 31, 2016 is $11.5 million and $112.3 million related to the sales of the metal sulfides business and the minerals-based flame retardants and specialty chemicals business, respectively, both of which closed in the first quarter of 2016. In addition, Gain on sales of businesses, net for the year ended December 31, 2016 includes a loss of $1.5 million on the sale of our wafer reclaim business. See Note 3, “Divestitures,” for additional information.

[2] Operating expenses, net for discontinued operations includes mark-to market actuarial (losses) gains of ($8.5) million and $8.9 million during the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

[3] On February 1, 2016, we sold our investment in Magnifin as part of the sale of the minerals-based flame retardants and specialty chemicals business. Refer to Note 3, “Divestitures,” for additional information.

[4] Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive (loss) income for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2016 are included in Income (loss) from discontinued operations (net of tax) for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2016 and resulted from the release of cumulative foreign currency translation adjustments into earnings upon the sale of our antioxidant, ibuprofen and propofol businesses and assets which closed on September 1, 2014 and the sale of our Chemetall Surface Treatment business which closed on December 14, 2016. See Note 3, “Divestitures.”