By
12 min ago 3 min read
Louisiana-headquartered industrial, medical, and specialty gas supplier Red Ball Oxygen expected to increase output of US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) protocol gases by 20% after launching production at its Friendswood facility, south of Houston.
The new production site operates in accordance with the EPA’s Protocol Verification Programme (PGVP) and is expected to expand the company’s distribution network.
EPA protocol gases are specialty calibration gas mixtures that are manufactured and certified according to standards set by the US EPA. These can include carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitric oxide, oxygen, and others.
Red Ball Oxygen’s EPA protocol gases are manufactured in the Technical Gas Services (TGS) division of the business, which supplies a variety of specialty gas products to the US and international market.
Mark Patten, Vice-President of TGS at Red Ball Oxygen, told gasworld, “Our lab in Shreveport runs 24 hours a day so to increase production…we added these capabilities to our facility in Friendswood.”
By integrating EPA protocol gas production at the site, Patten said the company now has “redundant production capabilities for reliability.”
The Friendswood facility opened in 2024 and was already producing hydrocarbon blends, transportable lightning calibration blends, and liquid standards.
EPA protocol gases are used to monitor environmental emissions from flare stacks on refineries, petrochemical plants, and coal and natural gas power plants.
The specialty gases calibrate environmental monitoring equipment to detect carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, methane, and a variety of other harmful gases.
EPA protocol gases are blended with very precise requirements and individual components are measured in parts per million.
Once blended, EPA protocol gases are assessed, left for a week, and then sometimes tested again after two weeks.
Red Ball Oxygen is targeting lead times between two to three weeks at the Friendswood site.
The company has an EPA distribution footprint across all 50 states and also supports the international market – shipping into Mexico, Central America, South America, and various Caribbean islands.
Alex Kennedy, CEO of Red Ball Oxygen, told gasworld EPA protocol gases form the largest segment of its TGS business.
“[EPA protocol gases are] integral to the overall industrial growth in the US, and in other countries, and we enjoy helping keep the environment clean at the same time.”
