Praxair supplies atmospheric, process and specialty gases, high-performance coatings, and related services and technologies to a wide range of industries such as aerospace, food and beverages, healthcare, semiconductors, chemicals, refining, ore and gas production, primary metals and metal fabrication, as well as other areas of general industry. It has operations in 30 countries, 26,936 employees and sales of $10.8bn (2008).
History
Praxair was founded in 1907 and became an independent publicly traded company in 1992.
Company movements
In July 2009, Praxair acquired Sermatech. For more on this story please see Praxair acquires US Sermatech coatings or go to ICIS news.
In December 2007, Yara International and Praxair established a 50:50 joint venture “Yara Praxair”. It will comprise of Yara’s existing industrial gases businesses located in Norway, Denmark and Sweden.
The European Commission cleared Praxair's acquisition of a 50% stake in Yara's industrial gases business. The final agreement for the 50:50 joint venture was completed on 30 November 2007.
Industrial Gases
Atmospheric gases are the highest volume products produced by Praxair. Using air as its raw material, Praxair primarily produces oxygen, nitrogen and argon through its several air separation processes.
Cryogenic air separation is the primary process used and here air is compressed and cooled until it liquefies. In recent years, Praxair has developed and commercialised air separation technologies, including proprietary vacuum pressure swing adsorption (VPSA) and membrane separation to produce gaseous oxygen and nitrogen, respectively.
Process gases include carbon dioxide, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, helium and acetylene. Most carbon dioxide is purchased from by-product sources, including chemical plants, refineries and industrial processes, or from carbon dioxide wells, and is processed in Praxair's plants to produce commercial carbon dioxide.
Hydrogen and carbon monoxide are produced by purifying hydrocarbon sources or by purifying by-product sources obtained from chemical and petrochemical industries.
Most of the helium sold by Praxair is derived from certain helium-rich natural gas streams in the US. Acetylene is typically produced from calcium carbide and water.
Gases and mixtures for specific applications and rare gases are also produced by Praxair.
Industrial Gases Distribution
There are three basic distribution methods for industrial gases: on-site or tonnage; merchant liquids and packaged or cylinder gases.
On-site: Customers that require the largest volume of product and that have a relatively constant demand pattern are supplied by cryogenic and process gas on-site plants. Praxair constructs plants on or adjacent to these customers' sites and supplies the products directly to the customers. Many of the cryogenic on-site plants also produce liquid products for the merchant market.
Merchant: The merchant business is generally associated with distributable liquid oxygen, nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and helium. The deliveries generally are made from Praxair's plants by tanker trucks to storage containers owned or leased and maintained by Praxair or the customer at the customer's site.
Packaged gases: Customers requiring small volumes are supplied products in cylinders, usually at medium to high pressure. These gases include the atmospheric gases, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, helium and acetylene. Praxair also produces and distributes in cylinders a wide range of speciality gases and mixtures.
Surface Technologies
Praxair's surface technologies business supplies water-resistant and high-temperature corrosion-resistant metallic and ceramic coating powders to the aircraft, electronics, printing, textile, plastics, primary metals, petrochemical, and other industries. The coatings extend wear life at high temperatures and under corrosive conditions and are applied at Praxair's facilities using a variety of thermal spray coatings processes.
The coated parts are finished to the customer's precise specifications before shipment.
Additionally, Praxair Surface Technologies manufactures a complete line of electric arc, plasma, and high velocity oxygen fuel spray equipment as well as arc and flame wire equipment. It also provides aircraft engine and airframe component overhaul services.
Services
The company designs, engineers and builds supply systems. In addition to its full service capabilities, specialised services are available from Praxair subsidiaries and partner companies. UCISCO, a wholly-owned Praxair subsidiary, provides rapid-response pipeline cleaning, nitrogen pumping and related services to refineries, chemical plants, steel mills, utilities and related companies.
AMKO Service offers a wide variety of cryogenic services to the industrial gas industry. Wellnite, a partnership with Halliburton, Root & Brown, is dedicated to mobile nitrogen pumping services in oil and natural gas wells. Niject Services, a joint venture with Ingersoll Rand Corporation, supplies enhanced oil and gas recovery systems.
System and Equipment
Praxair offers a full line of products tailored for the storage, delivery and handling of gases and surface technologies products. This includes on-site gas production systems, gas handling, monitoring and purification systems, or specialised applications equipment including welding supplies.
Industries served include chemical, food & beverage, glass, healthcare/medical, metal fabrication, metal production, semiconductor, and waste management. Praxair also offers a wide range of gas handling equipment for pure and speciality gases.