CATALYSTS
‣ by 50 % compared to the standard catalyst , i . e . to two tonnes less / kg of catalyst used . They also lead to a cost reduction of € 140 / kg of catalyst in the amount of metal required . BASF is also working on the ‘ Renewable ’ aspect of ‘ GREEn ’, that is to say the reusability of the precious metals . In addition to lowering the environmental impact of mining precious metals , improved recovery processes for metals from spent catalysts are part of these investigations . As this is still work in progress , no deliverables are currently available to be shared .
Low metal-content catalysts
Moving onto the ‘ Efficient ’ benefits , we have already seen , reducing the metal content of a catalyst while maintaining the activity levels , delivers both a sustainability and a financial benefit . Our low metal-content platform can be used on palladium , platinum and rhodium catalysts alike . For example , in a deprotection reaction , a BASF customer switched from a 10 % palladium catalyst with a usage factor of 1 to a newly developed GREEn catalyst with 5 % palladium and a usage factor of 0.7 . This meant an overall palladium usage reduction of 65 % and a concomitant 65 % CO2 emission reduction , or 240 kg / kg of catalyst , as well as cost reduction of
The challenge
€ 3,200 / kg ( Figure 5 ).
Leaching-resistant catalysts
And , finally , the ‘ Enabler ’ aspect . Precious metal catalysts are usually supplied in heterogeneous form but the metal can also go into solution . This can lead to metal impurities in the active ingredient which requires additional purification steps . Otherwise , the metal may be lost by leaching into wastewater , which represents both an economic and an environmental loss . To address this , BASF has developed a proprietary transition metal deposition technology to ensure stronger support bonding , ensuring that the metal is bound more to the carrier . We are now able to use this technique for rhodium- and platinumbased catalysts , and it leads to about 60 % lower metal dissolution levels by comparison with standard catalysts . This concept was used in specific customer projects where platinum and rhodium catalysts were used showing significant metal losses due to dissolved metal losses . One customer used the GREEn 5 % rhodium catalyst
Figure 5 ( slide 27 , figure only ) – Activity v . metal content : GREEn 5 % Pd / CP v . traditional catalyst in deprotection reaction as a drop-in replacement for the standard 5 % rhodium catalyst and metal recovery rates increased from 78 % to 90 %. Another customer replaced a 5 % platinum catalyst with the GREEn equivalent and increased metal recovery by 9 %. Currently , this technology is further developed with the focus on applying it on palladiumbased catalysts as well .
Conclusion
With the GREEn platform , BASF and its customers can jointly bring reduced precious metal catalyst technologies to the chemical industry . In doing so , both parties are contributing to the reduction in
CO 2 emissions and of the amount of metal used in the process , leading to significant cost savings . In other words , we can move from just
Case study 3 : Nitro group reduction catalysts
• REEn GREEn Pt-100 Pt-100 : 0.8 :% 0.8 Pt %/ CP-A Pt / CP-A
• REEn GREEn Pt-200 Pt-200 : 0.8 :% 0.8 Pt %( Mo Pt ()/ Mo CP)/ CP
• REEn GREEn Pt-110 Pt-110 : 0.8 :% 0.8 Pt %/ CP-B Pt / CP-B
• REEn GREEn Pt-210 Pt-210 : 0.8 :% 0.8 Pt %( Mo Pt ()/ Mo CP-B )/ CP-B
Case study 4 : Low metal content catalysts
2
2
• High precious metal prices 0
Hydrogen uptake ( L )
The solution
1
0
Pt Traditional + V Pt + V / C Pt Traditional + V Pt + V / C
Pt GREEn Pt-110
Pt GREEn Pt-110
Pt
GREEn
+ Mo
Pt-210
Pt
GREEn
+ Mo
Pt-210
Time ( min ) |
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0 |
30 |
60 |
|
Time ( min ) |
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0 |
30 |
60 |
• Reduce metal content but maintain high activity
Hydrogen uptake ( L )
1
‘ dreaming green ’ to ‘ acting green ’. •
J j
No No hydroxylamine build-up
High High activity Low Low metal metal content
Figure 4 ( slide 24 , table and scheme above only ) – GREEn Pt-200 v . 1 % Pt ( V )/ CP in nitro group hydrogenation
Dr Hans Donkervoort
GLOBAL MARKETING MANAGER - PRECIOUS METAL CATALYSTS
BASF hans . donkervoort @ basf . com www . basf . com
Palladium Rhodium
Platinum
Today : $ 60,000 / kg Today : $ 450,000 / kg
Today : $ 32,000 / kg
38 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981