Thursday 11th March 2010
Environmental technology: Oxford Catalysts is a commercialisation award winner
The Oxford Catalysts Group was presented with an award for Excellence in the Field of Environmental Technology Commercialisation by HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, at the CleanEquity Monaco 2010 conference. This invitation-only clean technology conference was attended by 36 next-generation technology companies, which presented to over 250 delegates from four continents.
The award recognises the Group's progress in bringing its clean fuels technology to the brink of commercialisation. The winning technology comprises the Group's microchannel reactor technology which is used for both steam methane reforming (SMR) and the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) processes. Applications include small scale distributed production of next-generation biofuels, and use as a tool to reduce gas flaring via gas-to-liquids (GTL). Diesel and jet fuels produced as a result offer significant environmental benefits over equivalent products sourced from fossil fuels.
Roy Lipski, CEO of the Oxford Catalysts Group said:
“CleanEquity Monaco is one of the leading industry conferences. With only three awards presented at the event, this is a substantial endorsement for Oxford Catalysts and its technologies.”
Mungo Park, Chairman of Innovator Capital, the conference host, said:
“Oxford Catalysts progressing to win in this category demonstrates a depth and breadth in management, competitive advantage and potential CO2 impact that has been recognised by successive judges. Its smaller scale gas-to-liquids technology has tremendous potential”
| Derek Atkinson, Business Development Director, Oxford Catalysts Group |
+44 1235 841 700 |
| Nina Morgan, science writer for the Oxford Catalysts Group | +44 1608 676 530 ninamorgan@absw.org.uk |
Microchannel reactors
Microchannel reactors are compact reactors that have channels with diameters in the millimetre range. The small diameter channels dissipate heat more quickly than conventional reactors with larger channel diameters in the 2.5 – 10 cm (1 – 4 inch) range so more active catalysts can be used. Mass and heat transfer limitations reduce the efficiency of the large conventional high pressure reactors used for hydroprocessing. The use of microchannel processing will make it possible to greatly intensify chemical reactions to enable them to occur at rates 10 to 1000 times faster than in conventional systems. They are designed to enable economical production of clean fuels on a small scale.
The Oxford Catalysts Group
Oxford Catalysts Group PLC is a listed public company (LSE: OCG) comprised of two operating subsidiaries – Oxford Catalysts Ltd and Velocys, Inc. The Group has over 90 employees and operates from facilities near Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK and Columbus, Ohio, US. The company was founded in October 2004 and was admitted to trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange on 26th April 2006, having raised £15m before expenses from a solid base of institutional investors.
Velocys, Inc.
Velocys, Inc. is based in Columbus, Ohio, US and specialises in the design and development of microchannel process technology for the production of synthetic fuels. The company was spun out of Battelle Memorial Institute, Inc., a major not-for-profit science and technology organisation, in 2001. It owns, or has licenses to, the largest microchannel patent portfolio in the world, with over 550 patent filings, and supports a large microchannel development team. Velocys, Inc. was acquired by Oxford Catalysts in 2008.
Oxford Catalysts Ltd
Oxford Catalysts Ltd designs, develops and licences speciality catalysts for the generation of clean fuels from both conventional fossil fuels and certain renewable sources such as biomass. The company focuses on two key platform technologies.
The first is based on a novel class of catalysts made from metal carbides. Aside from their lower cost, these catalysts offer a number of advantages. For example, in some reactions metal loadings can be reduced. In others, the need for precious metal promoters can be eliminated, while still retaining or even exceeding the benefits of traditional catalysts. Applications of these metal-carbide catalysts include hydro-processing and the conversion of natural gas, biogas or coal into sulphur-free diesel.
The second platform is based on a novel a catalyst and fuel combination that produces instant chemical steam at temperatures between 100ºC and 800ºC+ starting from room temperature. Such 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.
