Catalysts are integral to the transition to a greener economy . We report from a Clariant Catalysts presentation
Clariant Catalysts , said head
of R & D Marvin Estenfelder in a digital media presentation , has been working with various partners to develop catalysts to support the transition to a cleaner , safer and climate-neutral economy . The business defines four main dimensions to this , matching the UN ’ s Sustainable Development Goals with its own portfolio of products and technologies :
• Climate-neutrality
• Circularity
• Non-toxic , safer chemicals
• Zero pollution
To illustrate this , Estenfelder shared four customer stories that each relate to one or more of the four dimensions .
EARTH
The EARTH ( Enhanced Annular Reforming Tube for Hydrogen & Syngas ) technology relates mainly to climate-neutrality , because it enables users to generate hydrogen with lower CO 2 emissions . It was developed in partnership with TechnipFMC , combining a structured catalyst from Clariant with TechnipFMC ’ s recuperative steam reformer technology . Hydrogen , Estenfelder explained , is a relatively CO 2
-intensive process among the bulk chemical processes . It generates about 8 tonnes of CO 2 / tonne of product , compared to 2.5 for ammonia , 1.6 for propylene from naphtha cracking , 0.9 for propylene using Clariant ’ s Catofin process and 0.8 for methanol .
The high CO 2 footprint of hydrogen is largely because most is still produced by energy-intensive steam methane reforming ( SMR ). New technologies exist to split water into hydrogen and oxygen electrochemically with renewable energy , which would drastically shrink this footprint , but they are still under development . Experts believe that SMR will remain the main route for the foreseeable future . “ That means that we must address the energy footprint of SMR and improve it ,” Estenfelder said . “ The particular challenge here is that the process of SMR is very traditional and it has been optimised over many decades . Many believe that there is little innovation headroom for such a technology .”
Figure 1 – Turning waste into diesel fuel using Hydex catalysts
36 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981