SNF Floerger

Business segments

SNF’s products operate in a variety of markets. The driving factors of SNF’s growth are the scarcity of natural resources: water, oil and minerals.

Drinking water production

SNF manufactures and supplies organic coagulants such as PolyDADMAC and Polyamines as well as polyacrylamide flocculants either directly to the end user or through service companies who will in turn provide the service required by the drinking water production plant.

Wastewater treatment

Wastewater treatment is SNF’s historical business. Polyacrylamide flocculants are used in the primary settlers as well as in the sludge dewatering stage.

Oil

Polyacrylamides are used in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) to improve the speed and amount of oil extracted from the reservoir. The techniques used to improve oil recovery can be straightforward polymer flooding (PF), surfactant polymer flooding (SP) or alkaline surfactant polymer flooding (ASP). The latter technique, when applicable, has been known to sweep the reservoir of 90% of the oil in place.

Gas (Tight Gas, Shale Gas, Coalbed Methane)

With the success of hydraulic fracturing, also referered to as slickwater fracturing, as a means of economically recovering unconventional gas reserves, use of polymeric friction reducers has become widespread. Polyacrylamides are used for their drag reducing properties on water to decrease frictional pressure losses, thereby maximizing bottom hole injection pressures allowing for a higher pressure from the same number of pump trucks.

Mining

SNF produces also in its FLOMIN subsidiary a range of mining reagents based on xanthate and thiophosphate chemistry.

Paper

Widely used by the paper Industry, polyacrylamides sold by SNF under the trademark FLORET are used as processing aids and applied on the wet end of a paper machine either alone or as a part of a multi-component system. They enhance productivity, retention and drainage. Coagulants act as fixative for various chemicals such as dyes and sizing agents, charge neutralization for pitch and cationic demand control. SNF also manufactures synthetic dry strength resins which are acrylamide based, glyoxalated (FLOSTRENGTH) or issued from Hofmann rearrangement. These resins applied in the thick stock, imparts higher strength properties to paper & board, allows fiber substitution by lower quality grades or by fillers (PCC, GCC) . Productivity increases have been reported.

Agriculture

Polyacrylamide superabsorbents can absorb up to 400 times their weight in water, they are used for many applications such as reforestation, horticulture, landscaping and ornamentals. These products sold under the AQUASORB tradename, increase the water holding capacity of soils for several years, reduce irrigation time and water usage, and decrease water and nutrients losses linked to leaching. Soluble polyacrylamide polymers are used to flocculate the irrigated soil thus improving water penetration and soil aeration while diminuishing soil erosion.

Textile

FLOPRINT textile thickeners are used in pigment, reactive and dispersed printing. They are available as standard inverse emulsions, dewatered inverse emulsions and powders. SNF also manufactures textile auxiliaries used as antimigrants, dispersants, sizing and fixing agents.

Cosmetics

SNF manufactures three types of cosmetic ingredients, conditioning agents, rheology modifiers and carbomers under the trademarks FLOCARE and FLOGEL. The first, known as Polyquaternium 6, 7, 11 and 22. is used for hair conditioning and body shampoos. They have an affinity for keratin thus protect, enhance and repair the hair fiber. Rheology modifiers are based on inverse emulsion thickening agents for skin care formulations and hair combing creams. Carbomers, based on precipitation technology, are the most widely used thickening agents in the cosmetic industry.

Functional Solutions

SNF also manufactures specialty polymers such as FLOSET for the construction industry, FLOSPERSE as dispersants, FLOSOFT and FLOGEL in home care applications, METALSORB as heavy metal chelating agents and ODORFLO as odour control agents.

Production

SNF has always heavily invested in production facilities across the globe, as a result SNF has a total of 18 state-of-the-art production sites in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia; with 6 major plants in Andrézieux, France – Riceboro, Georgia, US – Plaquemine, Louisiana, US – Taixing, China – Ulsan, Korea and Vizag, India. In 2016 SNF's worldwide polymer production capacity is 930 kt/y (active equivalent).

FAQ

SNF is not an acronym but just three letters that signify nothing.

History

FLOERGER started manufacturing polyacrylamides in 1968 with 5 people in a refurbished horse stable in Saint-Étienne, France. In 1978 the activity is bought out by the management: René PICH, Technical Manager and Hubert ISSAURAT, Sales Manager and SNF is created. In the following years a continuous expansion program has been followed with the construction of production lines on the Saint-Étienne site at the rate of one per year. In 1987, SNF purchased the industrial site Chemtall in Riceboro, Georgia, US and started actively to pursue the North American market. In 1993, SNF won the contract to build the largest polyacrylamide plant in the world (50 kt) for the Daqing Oil Fields company in Northern China. In 1995 SNF purchased Polypure, the US water treatment division of Rhône-Poulenc. The year 2000 saw the creation of 30 subsidiaries around the world to provide technical support. In 2007 SNF won the design-build and supply PDO contract (Petroleum Development of Oman) for Enhanced Oil Recovery. This was the first polymer flooding project outside China since 1986. 2011, start of the construction of a large manufacturing site dedicated to the EOR industry in Plaquemine, Louisiana, US. In 2016, five new projects are under construction in Brasil, UK, Russia, India and China.