Saint-Gobain NorPro Capabilities Brochure

Saint-Gobain NorPro
Technology-Driven Ceramic Solutions
for the Hydrocarbon Industry
Saint-Gobain NorPro
Saint-Gobain NorPro has served the oil and gas production, refining,
petrochemical/chemical and environmental industries for more than
Catalytic
Products
Co-development
to optimize catalyst
carrier design
100 years, providing technology-driven ceramic solutions for process and
manufacturing challenges. The company operates three distinct businesses
that serve a diverse array of markets within the hydrocarbon supply
chain: Proppants, Process Ceramics and Catalytic Products.
Founded in 1859 in Akron, Ohio, as U.S. Stoneware (later Norton Chemical
Process Products), Saint-Gobain NorPro became part of Saint-Gobain
in 1990. It adopted the Saint-Gobain NorPro name to reflect both its history
and its place in the Saint-Gobain organization, and has developed into a major
international supplier of highly advanced ceramic-based products. With nine
manufacturing locations in four countries, and a superb staff of highly
qualified engineers and scientists, Saint-Gobain NorPro meets—and in most
cases exceeds—the technological requirements of its customers.
Process
Ceramics
As the oil and gas industry increasingly turns to unconventional production
Formulations
methods … as stranded gas technologies like GTL and LNG continue to develop …
and shapes
as environmental demands for clean fuels increase … as catalytic reactions
designed to
become more critical to higher yields … and as the importance of ceramic
meet all
solutions for all of these applications keeps growing, we, the Saint-Gobain
challenges
NorPro team, are proud to participate with our clients in the co-development of
new materials and technologies to meet the world’s increasing needs for energy.
Saint-Gobain
Proppants
Saint-Gobain Proppants
engineering
With energy consumption at an all-time
Innovative ceramic
for superior
performance
Breaking New Ground
high, proppants (spherical ceramic beads
used in the hydraulic fracturing of oil and
gas wells) are more in demand than ever.
Saint-Gobain Proppants is at the forefront
of this industry, with a product presence
in every natural gas- and petroleumproducing region in the world.
Fired at very high temperatures, ceramic
proppants are the most effective materials
available, maintaining integrity under the
most rigorous conditions. Their spherical
shape and inherent strength enable them
to be used in the deepest wells.
Oil and Gas Production
Founded by the Norton Company, the
since leveraged synergies in
Proppants developed its first man-made
as its ceramic materials knowledge,
business now known as Saint-Gobain
proppant product—Sintered Bauxite—
in 1973, and has since then greatly
expanded its capacity and its reputation
for quality. The Fort Smith, Arkansas,
facility has undergone several expansions
to meet product demand from both
national and international customers
since opening in 1979. It became part of
Saint-Gobain NorPro in 2001, and has
manufacturing development, as well
to introduce new and higher performance
proppants to this market. Available
full range of A.P.I. standard sizes in an
intermediate strength material
and Sintered Bauxite, offering A.P.I. sizes
and value; Ultraprop™, a high strength
manufacturing has recently expanded
performance in the most difficult
production facility in Venezuela is
products include: Versaprop®, an
intermediate strength composition;
engineered to deliver superior conductivity
in a high strength composition. Proppants
material designed to provide optimum
to Guanghan, China, and a new
applications; Interprop®, available in the
currently under construction.
Reactor Processing
Petrochemical/Refining
Refinery Products
Maximizing Clean Fuels Processes
Saint-Gobain NorPro provides refineries
with materials that facilitate increased
production of clean fuels to meet the
tightest environmental regulations.
The company also offers the widest
range of top bed solutions for all types
of reactors in the oil refining and
petrochemical industries.
These include:
•Ceramic Pentarings, the bed topping
material with the highest void fraction
(62%) available.
Compagnie de Saint-Gobain
•MacroTrap® highly macroporous
ceramic media, for the prevention of
premature pressure drop rise caused by
Pentaring Media
HSA Rings
particulate deposition on catalyst and
absorbent beds, and installed in over
150 units worldwide.
•High surface area alumina rings,
which allow the development of strong
ring-shaped guard bed catalysts.
•Denstone® ceramic bed topping and
support media, the industry standard
for more than 60 years.
Saint-Gobain was founded in France more than
300 years ago as the Royal Glass Works and has
since flourished into one of the world’s top
industrial corporations, with the single purpose
of serving the customer through a commitment
to quality and leadership. Saint-Gobain operates
in more than 50 countries, employing over
200,000 people in five major business sectors:
Flat Glass, Packaging, Construction Products,
Building Distribution and High-Performance
Materials. The latter includes Saint-Gobain
NorPro as well as Saint-Gobain Performance
Plastics and Saint-Gobain Ceramics.
Flat Glass
Packaging
Petrochemical/Refining
Catalytic Products
Innovation at its Best
The vast majority of the world’s
pressing, spray drying
products made by catalytic processing
forming technologies
manufactured goods are derived from
and other proprietary
of fossil fuels. The escalating cost of
to deliver the best and
these fuels and growing demand for
most cost-effective shape
products derived from them are
generating an ever-increasing need for
innovative, high-quality catalysts and
the underlying ceramic supports, or
demanded for each
particular situation. Carriers
for fixed bed reactors are
made in Bryan, Texas (USA)
carriers. We have a proven history of
and Lauf, Germany, and for
serving a wide range of catalytic
applications through a co-development
business model that involves joint
slurry and fluid bed reactors
in Canton, Ohio (USA).
development of new catalysts by our
clients and new carriers by us. Our
products, 95% of which are tailor-made
and proprietary per client, utilize a broad
range of materials such as alumina,
Stow, Ohio Pilot Plant
titania, zirconia, silica, silicon carbide
and others, as well as various mixtures
of them all. Our core competence is
mastering these porous ceramic
materials and, in combination with
precision manufacturing capabilities and
techniques, delivering highly consistent
and innovative products. Our semiworks facility allows rapid scale-up
from laboratory concept to commercial
production. We apply extrusion,
Performance Plastics
Construction
Products
Building
Distribution
Igniters
High-Performance Materials
Petrochemical/Refining
Process Ceramics
Denstone®
Denstone® Bed Support Media—Setting the Standard for Over 60 Years
The “Denstone®” name represents the
most trusted and recognized symbol
in bed support media for the refining,
petrochemical and gas processing
industries. Denstone® bed supports
optimize reactor performance, economy
and, above all, reliability—the result of
Denstone® support media are
available in three formulations:
•Denstone® 2000, formulated to
withstand extreme depressurization,
making it ideal in hydrocracking
processes.
raw materials monitored to the highest
•Denstone® 57, the reliable industry
and a tightly controlled manufacturing
•Denstone® 99, the 99+% alumina
standards of quality and consistency
process. For the most critical
attributes—from compressive strength,
to thermal shock and impact resistance,
to survivability under depressurization,
standard for over 60 years.
formulation for use at elevated
HexPak™
temperatures or in the presence
of steam.
no other products come close to
Denstone® support media’s unmatched
properties and performance in the field.
Environmental
Process Ceramics
WavePak™
Leading the Way with Technology
Saint-Gobain NorPro has decades of
development of patented shapes and
to meet the technological challenges
Oxidizer (RTO) industry. Special
experience in developing solutions
of the oil refining, petrochemical,
chemical, and allied industries.
With high value standard products
such as Denstone® support media,
Norton™ Proware™ saddles and Aludur®
internals, the company is a world leader
in the development and manufacture
of ceramics for fixed bed processes.
Saint-Gobain NorPro has extended
its presence in mass transfer by
developing exciting high-performance
shapes such as WavePak™ media
(used in all MECS Inc. licensed sulfuric
acid plants), and its expertise in
heat transfer has resulted in the
materials for the Regenerative Thermal
materials such as alkaline corrosionresistant Alkaware™ ceramic extend
the life of the RTO bed, and high
efficiency shapes such as Ty-Pak® media,
Snowflake® media and the recently
developed HexPak™ media, with low
pressure drop and outstanding heat
transfer characteristics, optimize
performance, reducing both capital
and operating costs. Custom shapes
and formulations are developed in
collaboration with clients to address
unique and demanding process
challenges.
Snowflake®
Expanding
Your Horizons
Saint-Gobain NorPro Employees
Our history shows that we
are prepared for the long haul.
We will do whatever it takes
to imagine, develop and
manufacture technology-driven
ceramic solutions that enable
our clients to remain at the
top. We are poised to meet
your next challenge.
“Quality” Isn’t Just Something
We Say—It’s Something We Do...
All the Time
Saint-Gobain NorPro takes great pride in
the fact that our global manufacturing and
administrative processes are certified to
ISO 9000:2000. As part of our ongoing
commitment to quality, we continue to track
our performance with an eye toward further
improvements. The benefit to customers is
that they always receive products that meet
our high quality criteria, and can be assured
of consistent quality year after year.
Saint-Gobain NorPro
3840 Fishcreek Road
Stow, OH 44224-5400
USA
Tel: +1 330 673 5860
norpro.stow@saint-gobain.com
Saint-Gobain NorPro GmbH
Am Bahnhof
D-56414 Steinefrenz
Germany
Tel: +49 6435 9657 25
norpro.steinefrenz@saint-gobain.com
Saint-Gobain Proppants
5300 Gerber Road
Fort Smith, AR 72904
USA
Tel: +1 479 782 2001
proppants@saint-gobain.com
Saint-Gobain KK
3-7 Kojimachi
Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo, 102-0083
Japan
Tel: +81 3 3263 0334
norpro.tokyo@saint-gobain.com
You’re Only as Good as Your People
It goes without saying that our employees are
our most valuable resource. Their knowledge,
expertise, experience and dedication have
allowed Saint-Gobain NorPro to reach new
heights. Saint-Gobain worldwide places heavy
emphasis on safety and safe working conditions.
Saint-Gobain NorPro’s plants have consistently
won Saint-Gobain Diamond and other awards
for their long-term safety performance. We are
proud of a workforce that specializes in the
products we develop and manufacture and in
the industries we serve, and we will continue to
aspire to bigger and better things in the future.
Exceptionally low employee turnover is indicative
of a dedicated and committed work force,
producing consistently high-quality products
for our customers.
Our Manufacturing Facilities
Circle the Globe
Saint-Gobain NorPro operates top-of-the-line
manufacturing facilities worldwide to meet
the expanding needs of our clients. We continue
to improve and monitor our manufacturing
processes and to invest in our plants to enable
timely delivery of the best quality products
possible, and to meet the new challenges
and growing demand of our customers.
Close attention is paid to all aspects of the
manufacturing operation, from raw materials
to finished products.
Our manufacturing facilities are located
worldwide:
Bryan, Texas—
catalytic products
Bryant, Arkansas—
proppants
Soddy-Daisy,
Tennessee—
process ceramics
Canton, Ohio—
catalytic products
Fort Smith, Arkansas—
proppants
Steinefrenz,
Germany—
process ceramics
Guanghan, China—
proppants
Stow, Ohio —
catalytic products
and process ceramics
Puerto Ordaz,
Venezuela—proppants
Saint-Gobain Proppants
(Guanghan) Co., Ltd.
Anle Village, Nanxing Town
Guanghan City, Sichuan Province, 618305
PRC
Tel: +86 838 550 3611
norpro.guanghan@saint-gobain.com
NORPRO-0706-SGCS
www.norpro.saint-gobain.com
©2006 Saint-Gobain Corporation