Catalyst Testing Campaigns you haven’t thought of

Catalyst testing is an important practice in the process of developing a new or improved catalyst. Over the years, Avantium has executed numerous catalyst-testing projects in the various phases of a catalyst development trajectory, varying from discovery, screening, process optimization, or commercial selection phase.

These phases are typically led and executed by the Research & Development departments but we see more and more that customers outsource to external parties to utilize internal resources on the most important projects (read here more). Besides these conventional catalyst-testing activities, there are additional non-R&D related domains, where services on a small scale parallel reactor high-throughput setup can provide additional value.

1. Catalyst testing for quality assurance purposes

In the process of manufacturing of new or improved catalyst, Quality Assurance Services (QAS) are important to guarantee consistency in quality. However currently, many of the QAS focus mainly on the physicochemical characteristics of the catalyst, such as elemental composition, surface area, crush strength,  porosity, or color. The quality assurance of catalysts sales or specific batches within a catalyst production can be increased by measuring catalyst performance under the same industrial conditions as it will be used later on.

The challenge is that these performance tests are very time and cost consuming when executed on a microflow or larger pilot-scale facility; moreover, the numbers of reactors are limited and therefore only a restricted amount of conditions/catalyst batches can be analyzed. The use of a small-scale high-throughput parallel reactor system for quality assurance can add significant value for the business managers and technical service engineers as it delivers real data of the final catalyst and not a prototype or lab sample.

With up to 64 parallel reactors, the analysis of multiple catalyst batches at the same time delivers insights into the consistency and quality in the catalyst manufacturing process. Catalyst manufacturers can use this essential information in their communication to customers, providing them with more data points related to the catalyst’s quality and performance. In addition, over time the large data of production processes and activity data can be collected, which allows finer tuning of conditions

2. Catalyst testing for benchmarking purposes

A second service to consider is Benchmarking Catalyst Testing with a small-scale, high-throughput parallel reactor system executed by an independent testing company. This could add value to your next long term research goals or would help you to get a better understanding of your market.  Avantium as a truly an independent partner with a large catalyst library and accessible network to commercially available catalyst systems can support benchmarking services across catalysis.

This unique combination of suited catalyst testing infrastructure and independence gives our customers a competitive advantage – better insight into the catalyst performance and reliable data providing important input for eventual catalyst improvement

3. Catalyst testing for marketing purposes

In recent years, more companies approach us to execute catalyst-testing services based on real test data for marketing purposes. As an example, Avantium recently provided high-throughput catalyst testing services for Lubrizol to independently benchmark different sulphiding agents. The process demonstrated the comparative performances of a conventional sulphiding agent and an agent that offers safer and cleaner catalyst activation.

More details and a publication in PTQ can be found here and the catalyst-testing program for marketing purposes delivered the following:

  • Tests tailored to show the bests performance of your catalysts
  • Data which the customer owns and can use as leverage in negotiations validated by an independent company

Conclusion

Avantium is an independent testing company with advanced catalyst testing infrastructure which offers possibilities for ‘non- R&D’ related catalyst services, more specifically in areas such as quality assurance, benchmarking, and marketing. Contact us to discuss your particular business needs and the relevant solutions we can offer.

Quality Assurance Benchmarking Marketing
Catalyst Development Stage Production Established Product in the Market New Product Launch
Next Goal Improve Production costs Define long term Goals Expand to new clients or marekts