years of innovation - CASALE GROUP

years of
innovation

“If I have seen further
it is by standing on
the shoulders of Giants”
Isaac Newton

CASALE
GROUP
TECHNOLOGY
SOLUTIONS
Casale Group is the leading
company in fertilizer and methanol
plant design
Half of all the ammonia plants in the world today and
a third of all the world’s urea and methanol plants use
Casale technologies.
After almost 90 years of technological innovation and
dedicated service to the industry, Casale Group is the
world leader in designing new fertilizer and methanol
plants and modernizing old ones.
Casale Group is a modern, innovative and reliable
company with the longest history in the fertilizer industry
and with the right know-how to design the most modern
plants.
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Ammonia Casale was established in Lugano in 1921 to
provide services to the ammonia manufacturing industry.
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Umberto Zardi
Managing Director
The company invested signifi cantly in technology
development in the ammonia and related fi elds, and today it
provides many services to manufacturers of ammonia, urea,
methanol and their derivatives, as well as in special fi elds
such as electrolytic hydrogen production and specialised
burner design.
The world has evolved a lot since industrial pioneers such
as Luigi Casale started out on their path. New problems
are at the forefront and press for answers, new needs
must be fulfi lled, such as the demand for more effi cient and
environment-conscious use of natural resources.
We have taken up the challenge and, still driven by the same
spirit of commitment to excellence and achievement as that
of the original founders, we proudly offer to the world our
most advanced state-of-the-art technologies and expertise.

YOUR BEST
PARTNER
for fertilizer and
methanol plants

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AMMONIA CASALE
UREA CASALE
METHANOL CASALE
CASALE CHEMICALS
a unique
partner for your
tecnological needs
Casale is a group of four individual companies, based on the
founder’s fundamental values of innovation, geniality, high quality,
entrepreneurial sense, customer care and endurance.
With innovative technologies and processes and the expertise
and commitment of our employees, we can tackle the most
complex revamping problems in the most effi cient ways,
devising the most appropriate and convenient solution for each
project.
Thanks to technology and know-how developed for years in
revamping and a long tradition of invention and innovation, the
company has developed advanced processes to become, once
again, one of the major forces in the construction of entire grassroots
plants.
Giuseppe Guarino, General Manager
Deputy Chairman of the Board
Federico Zardi, Deputy General Manager
Member of the Board
Team Casale Group

ONE GROUP MANY SOLUTIONS
Ammonia Casale, Urea Casale, Methanol Casale and Casale
Chemicals offer a complete range of services and solutions for
implementing projects, for complete plant revamping and new
plant construction.
A complete range of services and technologies :
• Technical audits
• Advisory and consultancy services for
improving plant performance
• Feasibility studies
• Licensing of proprietary technology
• Basic and detailed engineering
• Project management
• Procurement services
• Plant construction management
• Plant start-up and optimization
• Project contracting on turn-key basis
• After-sales technical services
We have carefully equipped our organization with all the resources
and methodologies needed to meet our customers’
expectations in the most economically competitive way.
We are structured for maximum fl exibility, ensuring that we
always have a high level of specialist knowledge and expertise
in every area.
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90
YEARS
OF HISTORY
A SUCCESS
BUILT TO LAST
Ammonia Casale contributed to the
history of Ammonia Synthesis and
made the one of the Group
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It all started in 1921 when Dr Luigi Casale founded Ammonia
Casale. In those days ammonia technology was in its
infancy, and thanks to his remarkable technical insight and
creative fl air, Luigi Casale came up with a series of innovations
that had a seminal infl uence on the further development
of the ammonia industry.
He found a new way to operate ammonia plants at a higher
pressure than was possible with any other workable technology.
At the same time, he developed an improved design for
the synthesis reactor that enabled very simple and reliable
plants to be designed.
But Luigi wasn’t just an engineer: he was an entrepreneur
as well, and with the support of Swiss investors he set up
the new company to commercialise his inventions.
The contribution of synthetic ammonia to improving the
quality of life of the world population is second only to that
of agriculture itself. The effort devoted to researching ammonia
synthesis also paved the way for producing many of
the industrial chemicals that are commonplace today.
By 1923 Ammonia Casale technology had been adopted in
Italy, France, Japan, Switzerland, Spain and the USA, with
more than 15 plants producing altogether about 80,000
tons of ammonia per year.

Expansion continued at a rapid pace and by 1927, the
year of Luigi Casale’s sudden death, the process had also
been adopted in Belgium, England, Russia, and even in
Germany, with an overall ammonia production of more than
320,000 tons per year.
Luigi Casale’s ammonia process dominated the market
for several decades, at one point reaching a dizzying 60%
market share with 200 units built worldwide.
The present management team took up the reins in the late
1970s, defi ning new objectives and company values appropriate
to modern challenges.
Just as Luigi Casale had been one of the earliest pioneers
of the ammonia synthesis process itself in the early years
of the 20th Century, in the late 1970s Ammonia Casale
became a pioneer of plant modernization or revamping.
Starting off at fi rst with just ammonia plants, it was not long
before the company extended this activity into other fi elds
such as urea, methanol, methanol derivatives and synthesis
gas production.
Ninety years later, Ammonia Casale is still here to last.
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development of technology

Is the oldest licensor still active
in the fi eld of synthesis ammonia
production.
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Ammonia Casale, the founding company of the Casale
Group, is the oldest licensor still active in the fi eld of synthetic
ammonia production.
About 25 years ago, Ammonia Casale pioneered the
concept of plant revamping, which was to become its
principal activity.
The company developed several breakthrough
technologies, including reactor designs with axial-radial
flow catalyst beds, and soon became a leader in the
design of ammonia synthesis reactors and related process
loops.
So far Casale has designed around 200 ammonia synthesis
reactors, which operate with all types of commercially
available ammonia synthesis catalysts.

More recently, the company has focused, to an increasing
extent, on the development of technologies and knowhow
for the rest of the plant and has become a leader in
complete ammonia plant revamping as well, with several
projects completed successfully.
Depending on the needs of the client, Ammonia Casale’s
plant modernization may be aimed at increasing plant
capacity or reducing energy consumption. This is achieved
by boosting the efficiency of key equipment (e.g. reactors)
through partial or total replacement of the old internals with
new ones or through “in situ” modifications.
Based on prevailing raw material and energy costs, the
return on investment is high.
Ammonia Casale’s outstanding synthesis loop design
has been used for many years in the construction of new
plants by its licensees.
Following the expansion of its technological portfolio,
Ammonia Casale has, more recently, designed worldscale
grass-roots plants completely based on its own
technology.
In alliance with one of its partners, Ammonia Casale has
also developed a design for mega-scale plants.
The main strength of Ammonia Casale lies in the
continuous evolution of its technologies, most of which
are developed in-house by a very specialized and
experienced team.
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continuity and diversifi cation

Established in 1991 to carry on the
urea technology activities started by
Ammonia Casale in 1985.
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A large part of the ammonia produced in the world is
transformed into urea in plants installed downstream of
ammonia production units.
Established in 1991 to carry on Casale’s growing urea
technology activities, Urea Casale was a logical diversification
for Ammonia Casale.
Thanks to its capacity to develop innovative technologies, Urea
Casale has been able to acquire a considerable share of the
market and, in a very short time, has become a leader in urea
plant revamping.
The main aims of plant upgrading are increasing capacity,
reducing energy consumption, controlling corrosion, abating

pollution and improving product quality. These aspects are all
covered by Urea Casale’s extensive technology portfolio.
This portfolio includes, amongst others, new processes to
drastically increase plant capacity, such as the Vapour Recovery
System (VRS), High Efficiency Combined Process (HEC) and
Split-Flow-LoopTM , as well as improved designs for key
equipment to enhance efficiency, such as the High Efficiency
Urea Reactor Trays, Full Condenser and High Efficiency
Hydrolyser.
The Casale quality control department also has the capability
and instruments to check the state of equipment items that are
subject to corrosion.
Experience, technologies and know-how in the field make
Urea Casale the ideal partner for improving urea plant
performance.
Following the Group trend, Urea Casale has, more recently,
designed world-scale grass-roots plants based entirely on its
own technology.
Like its mother company, Ammonia Casale, Urea Casale’s
main strength lies in licensing its technologies, developed by a
specialized and experienced in-house team.
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distinctive technology

Was established in 1994 to
resume Casale activities in the
methanol technology fi eld.

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In I 1928, in view of the close similarity of their synthesis gas
production p technology, Ammonia Casale S.A. started to
engineer e and construct methanol synthesis plants in addition to
ammonia a plants.
The T methanol process developed in the early days by Ammonia
Casale C remained the dominant technology for over 45 years.
Methanol M Casale was established in 1994 to resume Casale’s
activities a in the methanol field and rapidly achieved very
successful s breakthroughs. At the beginning, Methanol Casale
concentrated c
on revamping synthesis reactors and it soon
became b a leader in the design of methanol synthesis reactors
with w its well-known ARC design.
Methanol M Casale used this very reliable and efficient design to
modernize m several plants based on ICI technology. The same

design has also been licensed for the construction of worldscale
grass-root plants.
As it has progressively gained experience, Methanol Casale
has also become a leader in revamping complete methanol
plants and in designing and constructing new ones.
Key achievements in plant upgrading include capacity
increase, reduced specific consumption of synthesis gas, and
improvement in the quality of the raw methanol. Methanol
Casale has also recently designed grass-roots plants, including
the world’s largest plant
with a capacity of 7,000 MTD. Most are already in operation.
These plants incorporate the most advanced designs
developed by Methanol Casale, such as the IMC (Isothermal
Methanol Converter). This is the ultimate step in terms of
converter efficiency, enabling very efficient revamping and
making it possible to design a 7,000 MTD converter in a single
vessel.Among Methanol Casale’s latest developments is the
co-production of ammonia and methanol.
Once again, in accordance with the Group philosophy, the main
strength of Methanol Casale lies in the continuous development
and licensing of its technologies, which are developed in-house
by a very specialized and experienced team.
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mastering the fi eld of
specialty chemicals

Established in 1995 to focus on
processes and products related
or complementary to the group.

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Casale Chemicals, the youngest company of the Casale
Group, was established in 1995 to focus on processes and
products related or complementary to the activities of the other
companies of the group.
One of the main uses of methanol is in the production of
formaldehyde, a chemistry building block for which demand is
growing.
Casale Chemicals is now offering a new methanol-toformaldehyde
process based on a new reactor design.
The new reactor is equally suitable for new plants or for
replacement of existing units.

Casale Chemicals is also active in the development of other
processes using methanol as raw material, such as the MTO
(Methanol to Olefins) and dimethyl ether production processes.
A further area in which Casale Chemicals is becoming more and
more active and successful is the design of special burners for
partial oxidation and autothermal reforming.
The new burner designs developed by Casale Chemicals
have been applied in the generation of synthesis gas for
the production of ammonia and methanol as well as in the
production of technical gases.
Casale Chemicals operates also in the field of hydrogen
production processes and constructs and commercializes
pressurized water electrolysers of an advanced design, to
cover the small-to-medium hydrogen production range, where
reformers lose their economic advantage.
Advanced water electrolysers powered by renewable energy
sources are also a fundamental innovative technological
contribution of Casale Chemicals to the advancement of
hydrogen as an alternative form of energy for the 21st
century.
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Since the start Ammonia Casale, and subsequently the
whole Casale Group, has invested significantly in technology
improvement, gaining pre-eminence in the field of fertilizer and
methanol production through sophisticated design of the most
critical parts of the plants, such as reactors, burners and highpressure
equipment.
In the last few decades the design of fertilizer and methanol
plants and their most critical parts has evolved from an
empirical art, mixed with an intuitive sense for good design, into
a more precise and rationalized discipline.
The design of fertilizer and methanol plants now has to
be supported by a sound insight into the chemistry of the
processes, the behaviour of the catalysts, kinetic, heat and
mass transfer phenomena, fluid mechanics, the science
of construction and materials, and cost and profitability
implications.
Casale Group’s Technical Services team comprises
specialists in all these fields and is equipped with sophisticated
tools such as computer-aided techniques in applications
ranging from chemical process design to fluid dynamics
evaluations and mechanical stress analysis.
The combination of these tools with the high level of skill of
Casale’s specialists, who develop proprietary codes, makes
it possible to investigate, to analyse and to model complex
phenomena in a way that cannot be achieved by the most
skilful manual calculations.

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X-301
Tail Gas
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V-101
V-301
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K-302
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V-302
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K-301
E-302
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R-301
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PCS Nitrogen Inc.
Terra Industries
CFI & CFL
Agrium
Fosfertil-Ultrafertil SA
Petrobras SA
Methanex
Yara (formerly Hydro Agri)
Grande Paroisse SA
ICI
J.S.C. Togliattiazot
J.S.C. Metafrax
Concern Stirol
Odessa Port Plant
Sabic & Affiliates
Qafco
NPC
NFL
Iffco
Eurochim
Kribhco
Paksaudi
Pusri
Incitec
Petrochina
Luthianhua Group
Tianji Coal Chem. Ind. Group
...and many more
Representatives’
Offi ces
North America
Russia
China
India
Pakistan
Iran
Indonesia
Egypt
Brazil
Venezuela
Plants Around the
World
With 500 projects in the last 25 years, Casale technologies
can be found in ammonia, urea, methanol
and syngas production plants spread over all the
fi ve continents.
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The technologies owned
by companies of the
CASALE GROUP
are licensed to the following
international corporations:
• Chiyoda Corporation - Japan
(Ammonia Casale)
• Lurgi Oel Gas Chemie - Germany
(Ammonia Casale and Urea Casale)
• Linde AG - Germany
(Ammonia Casale)
• Ube Industries Ltd - Japan
(Ammonia Casale and Urea Casale)
• Pidec - Iran
(Ammonia Casale and Methanol Casale)
• Foster Wheeler - USA
(Methanol Casale)

Via G. Pocobelli 6
6900 Lugano - Switzerland
Tel +41.91.6419200
Fax +41.91.6419291
www.casale.ch
ammonia@casale.ch
urea@casale.ch
methanol@casale.ch
chemicals@casale.ch

years of
innovation