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Sasol opens catalyst plant
F O C U S experienced by the catalyst division. Group earnings before tax in 1H 2002 rose 1.5% to €7 M, with sales declining 9.9% to €365.3 M. European Chemical News, 2 Sep 2002, 77 (2019), 9
New investor for UOP-Süd Chemie jv CDP Capital-Technology Ventures has invested an undisclosed sum in HyRadix, a company set up by UOP and Süd-Chemie to commercialize a processor that converts natural gas or liquefied petroleum into hydrogen for use in fuel cells. CDP will also contribute hydrogen burner technology. Chemical Week, 14 Aug 2002, 164 (32), 27
Symyx does two deals Symyx Technologies has entered into a multi-year R&D deal with ExxonMobil Chemical. The agreement involves the development and application of high throughput technologies for ExxonMobil. Dow Chemical has also renewed its 1999 R&D collaboration with Symyx to discover catalysts for polyolefins. Speciality Chemicals, Jul-Aug 2002, 22 (7), 5
Symyx granted US patent for combinatorial catalyst screening Symyx Technologies (Symyx) has obtained a new US Patent No 6,410,331 for broad methods directed towards parallel screening of inorganic and organometallic materials for catalysis, especially the screening for catalysis in vessels. The methods cover the use of widely deployed parallel reactors for screening of catalytic materials in fine chemicals, commodity chemicals, polyolefin, and polymer industries. Symyx owns the patent jointly with Regents of the University of California and which is exclusively licensed to Symyx. Symyx develops and applies high-speed combinatorial technologies to the discovery of materials for life science, chemical, and electronics applications.
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up another advanced research laboratory in Cambridge for its Chiral Technologies unit. The £2 M laboratory will support the firm’s manufacturing and development work in chiral technologies, which will remain at the company’s Teesside headquarters. A team of 12 chemists will be working at the new facility, which will accommodate 10 fume cupboards and a 144-reactor Chemspeed unit for high throughput experimentation. The team, which will be increased to 20 by 2003, will focus on formulating specialist catalysts, advanced solutions, and new technologies for its clients in the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industry. The laboratories will also be using an 8-reactor Argonaut unit for parallel asymmetric hydrogenation. The company has also entered into a technology transfer deal with Hong Kong Polytechnical University, involving three ligand families for asymmetric hydrogenation, namely PPhos, Spiro-P and BINAM. It aims to develop the P-Phos technology to commercial scale for all standard rhodium and ruthenium BINAP applications. Manufacturing Chemist, Aug 2002, 73 (8), 14
Synetix predicts growth in PET ICI’s Synetix business believes that growing demand for synthetic fibre will mean demand outstripping supply by 2008. This increase is particularly marked in synthetic fibres for clothing and also the production of PET bottle grade resin. But the company believes the problem can be solved by its new titanium-based catalyst, which can increase productivity by 15%. The catalyst also gives a cleaner polyester, improved clarity, and sharper, brighter colours. Plastics and Rubber Weekly, 23 Aug 2002, 4
Tosoh Finechem to custom manufacture supported metallocene catalysts
Synetix opens research laboratory in Cambridge
Tosoh Finechem Corp is to begin fullscale custom production of metallocene-based supported catalysts. The company will produce the catalysts at its Nanyo site using an established process.
Synetix, a catalysis specialist, has set
Japan Chemical Week, 15 Aug 2002, 43 (2183)
Chemical Engineering World, Jul 2002, 37 (7), 36
OCTOBER 2002
Toto aims to expand photocatalyst business Toto Ltd hopes to increase its revenue from photocatalyst operations to Yen 20 bn from the fiscal 2001 level of Yen 8.2 bn. In particular the firm aims to expand its licensing activities, and is looking to grant licences for its photocatalyst technology to a further 20 firms, on top of the current 20 licencees. By 2005, Toto aims to reach licensing revenues of Yen 1 bn, compared with Yen 100 M in 2001. Nikkei Net, 15 Aug 2002 (Website: http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/) & Japan Chemical Week, 22 Aug 2002, 43 (2184), 3
UOP launches combinatorial chemistry subsidiary Torial Technologies is a wholly owned subsidiary created by UOP to provide combinatorial chemistry services and tools to the materials industries. The company will include technology developed by an alliance of UOP with Sintef Research Foundation of Trondheim in Norway. A new paraffin isomerization catalyst is expected to be announced by Torial soon. The company intends to reduce the time to commercialization from 5-7 years to 18 months through the use of combinatory techniques. Torial will compete with Avantium, HTE, and Symyx Technologies. Chemical Week, 31 Jul 2002, 164 (30), 13 & Chemical Market Reporter, 5 Aug 2002 (Website: http://www.chemicalmarketreporter.com)
NEW PLANTS Sasol opens catalyst plant Sasol has commissioned a €20 M catalyst plant in Engelhard’s site in De Meern, The Netherlands. The plant makes the company’s advanced cobalt catalyst for use in its lowtemperature Fischer-Tropsch (LTFT) slurry bed reactor gas-to-liquid (GTL) technology. The plant has been constructed through a partnership between Sasol and Engelhard Corp for the commercialisation of their advanced cobalt catalyst. GTL facilities developed by Sasol Chevron and Sasol Synfuels International will be using the catalyst produced. Two GTL plants are already being
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F O C U S developed, with one being managed by Sasol Chevron at Escravos, Nigeria and the other by Sasol Synfuels International and Qatar Petroleum at Ras Laffan in Qatar. Hydrocarbon Processing, Aug 2002, 82 (8), 29,38 & Nederlandse Chemische Industrie, 21 Aug 2002, 44 (14), 8 (in Dutch) & Chemical Engineering (New York), Jul 2002, 109 (7), 27,29-31
Axen starts Prime-G+ unit Axen has started the operations of its Prime-G+ facility at the Fortum Oil & Gas Naantali refinery in Finland. The unit is said to comply with all test run performance guarantees. The 5700 bbl/day plant has been developed for desulfurizing cracked naphtha containing 1200 ppm to 16 ppm sulfur. A thermal catalytic cracker is feeding the unit, with the final product blended and supplied to the ultra-low sulfur gasoline domestic and export markets. Hydrocarbon Processing, Aug 2002, 82 (8), 38
MGC completes high-purity CO plant Mitsubishi Gas Chemical has completed construction of a highpurity carbon monoxide plant in Kashima, Japan, that uses the company’s proprietary methanol decomposition (MD) technology and its MD catalyst. It was built to provide carbon monoxide for polycarbonate resins. It can also produce high-purity hydrogen. Japan Chemical Week, 22 Aug 2002, 43 (2184), 12
NEW TECHNOLOGY Improved zeolite Y from Spain An atomic-scale architectural design technique has been developed at the Polytechnic University of Valencia in Spain that will improve the performance of zeolite Y refinery catalysts (faujasites). These catalysts account for 40% of all catalysts used in refinery catalytic cracking. Around 72.5% of gasoil was converted to smaller hydrocarbon molecules in the laboratory using ITQ-21 compared to conversion rates of 53.9% and 68%
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for two undisclosed commercial catalysts.
Novel process upgrades heavy ends into olefins
Chemical Week, 7 Aug 2002, 164 (31), 25
SINOPEC Research Institute of Petroleum and Petrochemical has devised a new catalytic process that improves production of ethylene and propylene by cracking heavy-oil products. The process enhances heavy refinery streams and provides a method to produce higher-value light olefins using cheaper, very heavy paraffinic feeds. In the process, hot feed and catalyst are mixed and reacted in a riser reactor. The process reduces the requirement for using alloy in some process equipment because the process runs at lower reactor temperatures than the steam cracking process for olefins production.
Acetic acid recovered from DMT waste Teijin Ltd, Tokyo, has developed a process for obtaining acetic acid from the waste liquor from the manufacture of dimethyl terephthalate by a catalytic oxidation process. The identity of the catalyst and the process for extracting the acetic acid are confidential. Chemical Engineering, Jun 2002, 109 (6), 25
Dow, BASF team up to develop PO process Propylene oxide technology which uses hydrogen peroxide as the oxidant is to be commercialized by Dow Chemical in partnership with BASF. Both companies have pilot plant experience and significant patent portfolios. Sharing information is expected to speed up the commercializing process. The new process offers improved cost effectiveness and eliminates the complications involved in handling coproducts. Dow may use the HP-PO process at a new plant in China. The chlorhydrin route is used at Dow’s other PO plants. BASF uses the same process although its Elba jv with Shell uses PO-styrene technology. BASF is to build an HP-PO plant in partnership with Solvay to provide hydrogen peroxide raw material. Uhde and Degussa are both developing HP-PO technology. Sumitomo is commercializing the use of cumene hydroperoxide as the oxidizing agent. Chemical Week, 7 Aug 2002, 164 (31), 26
New cracked gasoline hydrogenation catalyst launched Yanshan Petrochemical Co Ltd is successfully using a BY-5 catalyst developed at its Research Institute at No 1 Chemical Plant in China. The catalyst is a cracked gasoline secondary hydrogenation catalyst which is suitable for hydrofining light oil products. The catalyst was developed to meet demand following the expansion of Yanshan’s 660,000 tonne/y ethylene unit. China Chemical Reporter, 26 Jul 2002, 13 (21), 25
Hydrocarbon Processing, Aug 2002, 82 (8), 31
Praxair introduces technology to detect CO, CO2 Praxair, a leading industrial gases company in North and South America has launched a new technology to measure traces of CO and CO2 at 10 ppb in ethylene. With this new detection technology, the polyethylene producers can identify very low quantities of impurities which can be scrubbed from ethylene, hence reducing the quantity of catalyst required for making polyethylene. Chemical Engineering World, Jun 2002, 37 (6), 47
Pilot test tubular unit in Shanghai Petrochemical Shanghai Petrochemical Co Ltd has recently started up a pilot test tubular unit at a major research facility operated by its Plastics Operation division in China. The pilot unit has a capacity to produce 75 kg/hour of polypropylene homopolymers, random polymers, and impact copolymers. It will enable the company to evaluate the effect of new catalysts and production processes. China Chemical Reporter, 26 Jul 2002, 13 (21), 26
Baxendale scales up enzymatic route to polyurethane Baxendale Chemicals, UK, is scaling up a process for producing polyurethane using the Candida
OCTOBER 2002
New investor for UOP-Süd Chemie jv CDP Capital-Technology Ventures has invested an undisclosed sum in HyRadix, a company set up by UOP and Süd-Chemie to commercialize a processor that converts natural gas or liquefied petroleum into hydrogen for use in fuel cells. CDP will also contribute hydrogen burner technology. Chemical Week, 14 Aug 2002, 164 (32), 27
Symyx does two deals Symyx Technologies has entered into a multi-year R&D deal with ExxonMobil Chemical. The agreement involves the development and application of high throughput technologies for ExxonMobil. Dow Chemical has also renewed its 1999 R&D collaboration with Symyx to discover catalysts for polyolefins. Speciality Chemicals, Jul-Aug 2002, 22 (7), 5
Symyx granted US patent for combinatorial catalyst screening Symyx Technologies (Symyx) has obtained a new US Patent No 6,410,331 for broad methods directed towards parallel screening of inorganic and organometallic materials for catalysis, especially the screening for catalysis in vessels. The methods cover the use of widely deployed parallel reactors for screening of catalytic materials in fine chemicals, commodity chemicals, polyolefin, and polymer industries. Symyx owns the patent jointly with Regents of the University of California and which is exclusively licensed to Symyx. Symyx develops and applies high-speed combinatorial technologies to the discovery of materials for life science, chemical, and electronics applications.
O N
C ATA LY S T S
up another advanced research laboratory in Cambridge for its Chiral Technologies unit. The £2 M laboratory will support the firm’s manufacturing and development work in chiral technologies, which will remain at the company’s Teesside headquarters. A team of 12 chemists will be working at the new facility, which will accommodate 10 fume cupboards and a 144-reactor Chemspeed unit for high throughput experimentation. The team, which will be increased to 20 by 2003, will focus on formulating specialist catalysts, advanced solutions, and new technologies for its clients in the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industry. The laboratories will also be using an 8-reactor Argonaut unit for parallel asymmetric hydrogenation. The company has also entered into a technology transfer deal with Hong Kong Polytechnical University, involving three ligand families for asymmetric hydrogenation, namely PPhos, Spiro-P and BINAM. It aims to develop the P-Phos technology to commercial scale for all standard rhodium and ruthenium BINAP applications. Manufacturing Chemist, Aug 2002, 73 (8), 14
Synetix predicts growth in PET ICI’s Synetix business believes that growing demand for synthetic fibre will mean demand outstripping supply by 2008. This increase is particularly marked in synthetic fibres for clothing and also the production of PET bottle grade resin. But the company believes the problem can be solved by its new titanium-based catalyst, which can increase productivity by 15%. The catalyst also gives a cleaner polyester, improved clarity, and sharper, brighter colours. Plastics and Rubber Weekly, 23 Aug 2002, 4
Tosoh Finechem to custom manufacture supported metallocene catalysts
Synetix opens research laboratory in Cambridge
Tosoh Finechem Corp is to begin fullscale custom production of metallocene-based supported catalysts. The company will produce the catalysts at its Nanyo site using an established process.
Synetix, a catalysis specialist, has set
Japan Chemical Week, 15 Aug 2002, 43 (2183)
Chemical Engineering World, Jul 2002, 37 (7), 36
OCTOBER 2002
Toto aims to expand photocatalyst business Toto Ltd hopes to increase its revenue from photocatalyst operations to Yen 20 bn from the fiscal 2001 level of Yen 8.2 bn. In particular the firm aims to expand its licensing activities, and is looking to grant licences for its photocatalyst technology to a further 20 firms, on top of the current 20 licencees. By 2005, Toto aims to reach licensing revenues of Yen 1 bn, compared with Yen 100 M in 2001. Nikkei Net, 15 Aug 2002 (Website: http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/) & Japan Chemical Week, 22 Aug 2002, 43 (2184), 3
UOP launches combinatorial chemistry subsidiary Torial Technologies is a wholly owned subsidiary created by UOP to provide combinatorial chemistry services and tools to the materials industries. The company will include technology developed by an alliance of UOP with Sintef Research Foundation of Trondheim in Norway. A new paraffin isomerization catalyst is expected to be announced by Torial soon. The company intends to reduce the time to commercialization from 5-7 years to 18 months through the use of combinatory techniques. Torial will compete with Avantium, HTE, and Symyx Technologies. Chemical Week, 31 Jul 2002, 164 (30), 13 & Chemical Market Reporter, 5 Aug 2002 (Website: http://www.chemicalmarketreporter.com)
NEW PLANTS Sasol opens catalyst plant Sasol has commissioned a €20 M catalyst plant in Engelhard’s site in De Meern, The Netherlands. The plant makes the company’s advanced cobalt catalyst for use in its lowtemperature Fischer-Tropsch (LTFT) slurry bed reactor gas-to-liquid (GTL) technology. The plant has been constructed through a partnership between Sasol and Engelhard Corp for the commercialisation of their advanced cobalt catalyst. GTL facilities developed by Sasol Chevron and Sasol Synfuels International will be using the catalyst produced. Two GTL plants are already being
5
F O C U S developed, with one being managed by Sasol Chevron at Escravos, Nigeria and the other by Sasol Synfuels International and Qatar Petroleum at Ras Laffan in Qatar. Hydrocarbon Processing, Aug 2002, 82 (8), 29,38 & Nederlandse Chemische Industrie, 21 Aug 2002, 44 (14), 8 (in Dutch) & Chemical Engineering (New York), Jul 2002, 109 (7), 27,29-31
Axen starts Prime-G+ unit Axen has started the operations of its Prime-G+ facility at the Fortum Oil & Gas Naantali refinery in Finland. The unit is said to comply with all test run performance guarantees. The 5700 bbl/day plant has been developed for desulfurizing cracked naphtha containing 1200 ppm to 16 ppm sulfur. A thermal catalytic cracker is feeding the unit, with the final product blended and supplied to the ultra-low sulfur gasoline domestic and export markets. Hydrocarbon Processing, Aug 2002, 82 (8), 38
MGC completes high-purity CO plant Mitsubishi Gas Chemical has completed construction of a highpurity carbon monoxide plant in Kashima, Japan, that uses the company’s proprietary methanol decomposition (MD) technology and its MD catalyst. It was built to provide carbon monoxide for polycarbonate resins. It can also produce high-purity hydrogen. Japan Chemical Week, 22 Aug 2002, 43 (2184), 12
NEW TECHNOLOGY Improved zeolite Y from Spain An atomic-scale architectural design technique has been developed at the Polytechnic University of Valencia in Spain that will improve the performance of zeolite Y refinery catalysts (faujasites). These catalysts account for 40% of all catalysts used in refinery catalytic cracking. Around 72.5% of gasoil was converted to smaller hydrocarbon molecules in the laboratory using ITQ-21 compared to conversion rates of 53.9% and 68%
6
O N
C ATA LY S T S
for two undisclosed commercial catalysts.
Novel process upgrades heavy ends into olefins
Chemical Week, 7 Aug 2002, 164 (31), 25
SINOPEC Research Institute of Petroleum and Petrochemical has devised a new catalytic process that improves production of ethylene and propylene by cracking heavy-oil products. The process enhances heavy refinery streams and provides a method to produce higher-value light olefins using cheaper, very heavy paraffinic feeds. In the process, hot feed and catalyst are mixed and reacted in a riser reactor. The process reduces the requirement for using alloy in some process equipment because the process runs at lower reactor temperatures than the steam cracking process for olefins production.
Acetic acid recovered from DMT waste Teijin Ltd, Tokyo, has developed a process for obtaining acetic acid from the waste liquor from the manufacture of dimethyl terephthalate by a catalytic oxidation process. The identity of the catalyst and the process for extracting the acetic acid are confidential. Chemical Engineering, Jun 2002, 109 (6), 25
Dow, BASF team up to develop PO process Propylene oxide technology which uses hydrogen peroxide as the oxidant is to be commercialized by Dow Chemical in partnership with BASF. Both companies have pilot plant experience and significant patent portfolios. Sharing information is expected to speed up the commercializing process. The new process offers improved cost effectiveness and eliminates the complications involved in handling coproducts. Dow may use the HP-PO process at a new plant in China. The chlorhydrin route is used at Dow’s other PO plants. BASF uses the same process although its Elba jv with Shell uses PO-styrene technology. BASF is to build an HP-PO plant in partnership with Solvay to provide hydrogen peroxide raw material. Uhde and Degussa are both developing HP-PO technology. Sumitomo is commercializing the use of cumene hydroperoxide as the oxidizing agent. Chemical Week, 7 Aug 2002, 164 (31), 26
New cracked gasoline hydrogenation catalyst launched Yanshan Petrochemical Co Ltd is successfully using a BY-5 catalyst developed at its Research Institute at No 1 Chemical Plant in China. The catalyst is a cracked gasoline secondary hydrogenation catalyst which is suitable for hydrofining light oil products. The catalyst was developed to meet demand following the expansion of Yanshan’s 660,000 tonne/y ethylene unit. China Chemical Reporter, 26 Jul 2002, 13 (21), 25
Hydrocarbon Processing, Aug 2002, 82 (8), 31
Praxair introduces technology to detect CO, CO2 Praxair, a leading industrial gases company in North and South America has launched a new technology to measure traces of CO and CO2 at 10 ppb in ethylene. With this new detection technology, the polyethylene producers can identify very low quantities of impurities which can be scrubbed from ethylene, hence reducing the quantity of catalyst required for making polyethylene. Chemical Engineering World, Jun 2002, 37 (6), 47
Pilot test tubular unit in Shanghai Petrochemical Shanghai Petrochemical Co Ltd has recently started up a pilot test tubular unit at a major research facility operated by its Plastics Operation division in China. The pilot unit has a capacity to produce 75 kg/hour of polypropylene homopolymers, random polymers, and impact copolymers. It will enable the company to evaluate the effect of new catalysts and production processes. China Chemical Reporter, 26 Jul 2002, 13 (21), 26
Baxendale scales up enzymatic route to polyurethane Baxendale Chemicals, UK, is scaling up a process for producing polyurethane using the Candida
OCTOBER 2002