W R Grace And Co's Business Segments

W. R. Grace & Co. is engaged in the production and sale of specialty chemicals and specialty materials on a global basis through two reportable business segments: Grace Catalysts Technologies, which includes catalysts and related products and technologies used in refining, petrochemical and other chemical manufacturing applications; and Grace Materials Technologies, which includes specialty materials, including silica-based and silica-alumina-based materials, used in coatings, consumer, industrial, and pharmaceutical applications. We entered the specialty chemicals industry in 1954, the year in which we acquired the Davison Chemical Company. Grace is the successor to a company that began in 1854 and originally became a public company in 1953. W. R. Grace & Co. is a Delaware corporation. Our principal executive offices are located at 7500 Grace Drive, Columbia, Maryland 21044, telephone (410) 531-4000.

Grace Catalysts Technologies Reportable Segment
Catalysts Technologies principally applies alumina, zeolite and inorganic support technologies in the design and manufacture of products with the goal of creating significant value for our diverse customer base. Our customers include major oil refiners and plastics and chemicals manufacturers. We believe that our technological expertise provides a competitive advantage, allowing us to quickly design products that help our customers create value in their markets.

Grace Catalysts Technologies—Refining Catalysts
FCC Catalysts
We are a global leader in developing and manufacturing fluid catalytic cracking, or FCC, catalysts and additives that are designed to enable petroleum refiners to increase profits by improving product yields, value and quality. Our FCC products also enable refiners to reduce emissions from their FCC units and reduce sulfur content in the transportation fuels they produce. Oil refining is a highly specialized discipline and FCC catalysts must be tailored to meet local variations in crude oil feedstocks and a refinerys product mix. We work regularly with our customers to identify the most appropriate catalyst and additive formulations for their changing needs.
Since our customers are refiners, our business is highly dependent on the economics of the petroleum refining industry. In particular, demand for our FCC products is affected by refinery throughput, the type and quality of refinery feedstocks, and the demand for transportation fuels and other refinery products, such as propylene.

In general, as a refinery utilizes more of its FCC unit capacity, it needs a greater amount of FCC catalyst. Refinery throughput, or the extent to which refiners utilize their available FCC capacity, is generally determined by demand for transportation fuels and petrochemical products and the availability of crude oil supply. In recent years, global economic growth, especially in emerging regions, has increased global demand for transportation fuels and petrochemical products. Retail gasoline and diesel fuel prices and the level of economic activity has also directly influenced transportation fuel demand. Improvements in vehicular fuel economy, as well as consumer trends and government policies that increase the use of non-petroleum-based fuels and/or decrease the use of petroleum-based fuels also will affect transportation fuel demand over time.
Refinery crude oil feedstocks vary in quality from light and sweet to heavy and sour. Light and sweet feedstocks are typically more expensive than heavy and sour feedstocks and yield a greater proportion of high-value petroleum products. They also yield a lower proportion of residual oil, or "resid," which is generally the lowest value feedstock contained in crude oil. Although heavy and sour feedstocks with high resid content are typically less expensive than higher quality feedstocks, the processing of high-resid feedstocks is more difficult because these feedstocks have more impurities and higher boiling points. Our customers generally determine the feedstocks to be used in their refineries based on relative pricing and availability of various quality feedstocks. Refinery configuration and complexity also plays a role in feedstock selection; more complex refineries tend to process a higher proportion of heavy and sour feedstocks. In general, as a refinery uses more heavy and sour feedstocks, it uses a greater amount of FCC catalyst. In addition, refiners use special high value-added formulations of FCC catalysts for efficient refining of heavy and sour feedstocks. We have designed our MIDAS® catalyst, IMPACT® catalyst, NEKTOR™ catalyst, and GENESIS® catalyst product portfolios to enable our customers to increase the efficiency and yield of high-resid feedstock refining.

Hydroprocessing Catalysts
We market hydroprocessing catalysts primarily through ART, our joint venture with Chevron. We established ART to combine our technology with that of Chevron and to develop, market and sell hydroprocessing catalysts to customers in the petroleum refining industry worldwide.

Grace Catalysts Technologies—Polyolefin Catalysts, Catalyst Supports and Polypropylene Process Technology
We are a leading provider of catalyst systems and catalyst supports to the polyolefins industry for a variety of polyethylene and polypropylene process technologies. These types of catalysts are used for the manufacture of polyethylene and polypropylene thermoplastic resins used in products such as plastic film, high-performance plastic pipe, automobile parts, household appliances and household containers. We use a combination of proprietary catalyst and support technology and technology licensed from third parties to provide unique catalyst-based solutions to our customers and to provide a broad technology portfolio for enhancing collaboration opportunities with technology leaders.

Our MAGNAPORE® polymerization catalyst is used to produce high performance polyethylene in the slurry loop process for pipe and film applications. We offer our LYNX® catalysts systems for the production of high-density polyethylene resins, such as bimodal film and pipe, as well as commercial use for the production of polypropylene in all major process technologies including slurry, bulk loop, stirred gas, fluid gas, and stirred bulk. Our CONSISTA® 6th generation, non-phthalate catalysts are used to produce polypropylene resins that exhibit enhanced clarity, stiffness, and impact strength. Our POLYTRAK® polymerization catalyst is designed to achieve improved polypropylene performance, particularly for impact resistant applications such as automobile bumpers and household appliances.

Grace Materials Technologies Reportable Segment
Materials Technologies principally applies specialty silica, zeolite and fine chemical technologies in the design and manufacture of products to create significant value for our diverse customer base. Our customers include coatings manufacturers, consumer product manufacturers, plastics manufacturers, petrochemical and natural gas processors, and pharmaceutical companies. We believe that our technological expertise and broad technology platform provide a competitive advantage, allowing us to tailor our products to specific customers requirements and help them create value in their markets.

Our materials are integrated into our customers manufacturing processes and when combined with our technical support, can increase the efficiency and performance of their products. By working closely with our customers, we seek to help them respond quickly to changing consumer demands. In addition, we focus on developing and manufacturing products that differentiate our customers’ products and help them meet evolving regulatory and environmental requirements. For example, our coatings additives are designed to be used in more sustainable water-based and VOC-compliant coatings, our pharmaceutical excipients help improve bioavailability, extend shelf-life, and/or make drug manufacturing more efficient. Our dental silicas are engineered to provide high cleaning with gentle abrasivity. Recent innovations in our beer stabilization silicas offer greater productivity to breweries while reducing solid waste and water usage. Our custom manufacturing of intermediates supports pharmaceutical drug development processes enabling commercialization of life saving therapies. Our products are used in a wide range of industries, including paint and coatings, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, personal care, plastics and rubber, and petrochemical and biofuels. We can modify the base silica and surface chemistry for our customers in order to enhance our product performance for their unique applications.