Monday 23rd June 2008
Winner of the Grant Thornton Innovation Award
Oxford Catalysts Group PLC, the leading catalyst innovator for clean fuels, is pleased to announce that it has received the Grant Thornton Innovation Award at the 14th Oxfordshire Business Awards on Friday 20th June 2008.
Building on over 20 years’ of research at the University of Oxford, the Company was recognised for its innovation in the development and commercialisation of two new world-class platform technologies.
Oxford Catalysts has created high-performance catalysts for both established and new growth markets. These include the production of “instant steam”, as well as catalysts to enable the next generation of sulphur-free biofuels, manufactured from renewable and truly sustainable feed-stocks or waste materials.
Roy Lipski, Chief Executive of Oxford Catalysts said:
"We are pleased to be recognised in the Oxfordshire community as a pioneer in technological innovation. We hope that our technologies continue to be recognised within the industry, as we take our products towards the reality of commercial deployment."
For further information, please contact:
Roy Lipski, CEO, Oxford Catalysts 01235 841 700
Billy Clegg/Alex Beagley, Financial Dynamics 020 7831 3113
Notes to Editors
Oxford Catalysts Group PLC, the leading catalyst innovator for clean fuels, designs and develops specialty catalysts for the generation of clean fuels from both conventional fossil fuels and certain renewable sources such as bio-waste. Its patented technology is the result of almost 20 years of research at the University of Oxford's prestigious Wolfson Catalysis Centre, headed by Professor Malcolm Green, one of the world's most respected inorganic chemists. Oxford Catalysts was founded by Professor Green and Dr Xiao in October 2004.
Oxford Catalysts’ strategy is to license its catalysts for commercial application by entering into co-development partnerships with leading manufacturers, producers and suppliers in the petroleum, petrochemicals, biogas, steam applications and catalysis markets.
Oxford Catalysts has two key platform technologies. The first is for a novel class of catalysts incorporating metal carbides, which can match or exceed the benefits of traditional precious metal catalysts, at a lower cost, for several key processes used in the petroleum and petrochemical industries. Applications of these metal-carbide catalysts include the removal of sulphur from crude oil fractions (known as hydro-desulphurisation or HDS), the conversion of natural gas, coal or bio-mass into virtually sulphur-free liquid fuels via the Fischer-Tropsch reaction (known as the GTL, CTL and BTL processes respectively), and the transformation of biogas (waste methane) into syngas − the building block of liquid fuels.
The second platform relates to a unique chemical reaction which can be used to generate steam at temperatures between 100ºC and 600ºC+, instantaneously, starting from room temperature, using a cheap liquid fuel alongside the Company’s patented catalysts. Such unprecedented Instant Steam could have important applications in a broad range of markets, from cleaning and disinfecting, to green energy in the form of motive power or electricity.
Oxford Catalysts Group PLC is listed on London’s AIM market (coding symbol OCG).
