Many people have a good reason to thank Haldor Topsoe , even though they may not be aware of it . Haldor Topsoe plays a key role in helping the agriculture industry meet the global demand for food , as it supplies catalysts used to produce fully half of the world ’ s fertilizer production . In addition to developing and manufacturing numerous catalysts for use throughout the chemical and refining industries , other key activities include developing and licensing process technology as well as developing proprietary equipment .

Given Haldor Topsoe ’ s scope , it is no surprise that the company has a fully fledged Hardware Support Group . Here , staff are responsible for preventing equipment failures and costly unexpected plant shutdowns by conducting

Finite Element Analysis , advising on alloy selection , giving recommendations for welding , indicating whether heat treatment is advisable , and so forth . Support is provided for product innovation , equipment design review , fitness for service , and root cause analyses wherever needed within Haldor Topsoe but especially to the ‘ proprietary equipment ’ activities .

The manager in charge of Hardware Support is Maria Oestergaard . “ When asked to engineer a new piece of equipment , the first thing to do is to understand the customer ’ s needs because in our business no two orders are ever exactly the same . Taking asset on our current designs to deliver the most cost-effective solution , we consider our customer ’ s specific requirements

in terms of equipment efficiency or regarding feedstock composition . We also consider pertinent infrastructure issues , such as the local cost of energy and whether steam output is desirable . Space can also play a role , so we might have to consider designing equipment vertically for a small footprint . Summing up , our goal is to make our customer successful , therefore when appropriate we steer clear of the current trend to push for standard options and instead produce solutions which work best for the customer in the long run .”

ble contamination in the feedstock or needs to keep options open as to the source of the cooling water . Another example is the optimization of equipment design to increase efficiency and minimize the use of natural resources and the CO 2 footprint . These are some of the areas my team should be focussing on instead of straightforward materials selection procedures . I also want them to spend time developing corrosion data for emerging technologies such as Biofuels .”

Although customers receive a bespoke service , Haldor Topsoe is looking to create internal efficiencies by developing a unified engineering tool . The idea , explains Maria Oestergaard , is to decrease the number of engineering hours required per project while maintaining the quality of the equipment delivered and simultaneously reduce the scope for errors . One of the features of the optimization process Haldor Topsoe has embarked on is digitalization of material selection , not only of piping , but also of proprietary equipment such as boilers , reactors , heat exchangers , pressure vessels , etc . “ Being able to automate such processes with intelligent materials selection will free up our materials engineers so that they can focus on issues which are more critical and , let ’ s be honest , much more rewarding for experienced staff ,” explains Maria Oestergaard .

Asked to provide examples of such ‘ added value ’ areas , Maria Oestergaard raises the capability of addressing client concerns and needs . “ It could be a customer who is worried about the impact on the equipment of a possi-

Haldor Topsoe = Quality

When Dr . Haldor Topsoe founded his company in 1940 , he was convinced that catalysts could make a vast contribution to modern society . But he was equally determined that his company should operate according to the highest standards . “ The ‘ Topsoe Spirit ’ that he created continues to this very day , as evidenced by the company ’ s commitment to honesty at all levels ,” says Maria Oestergaard . “ Sometimes we may be asked to perform a failure analysis on a piece of our own equipment . No matter the outcome , we do not hide any results but openly communicate all findings with those who need to know . So that certainly means with the client who initiated the research and if the failure resulted from poor equipment design , we will also update other plants running similar equipment so that together we can determine if and what action is appropriate .”

To further ensure transparency during failure analysis , Haldor Topsoe may also submit samples to a third-party laboratory for analysis . “ Haldor Topsoe