Honour for FT microchannel reactors

OXFORD UK -  A Fischer Tropsch (FT) microchannel reactor developed by Velocys Inc, combined with a new highly active FT catalyst developed by Oxford Catalysts, has been short-listed in the Best Innovation by an SME category of the 2009 ICIS Innovation Awards.

The reactor, which can achieve productivities that are orders of magnitude greater than for conventional FT reactors, can operate economically when processing just 500-2000 tonnes of waste per day. Diesel and jet fuels produced using the microchannel reactor offer significant emissions benefits over equivalent products sourced from fossil fuels at an economical cost when oil prices are over US$50/barrel, depending on the local fiscal regime.

The innovation makes it possible to produce liquid biofuels from a wide variety of waste feedstocks, including municipal waste in situ, thus avoiding the need to transport large volumes of waste to central processing facilities.

Derek Atkinson, FT Business Development Director at Oxford Catalysts said: "Our innovation represents a whole new way of looking at the problems associated with the distributed production of new generation biofuels from a variety of waste sources. We are honoured to have reached the short list for this important ICIS award."

 

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, USA. 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.
 

Oxford Catalysts Ltd

Oxford Catalysts Ltd, designs, develops and licences specialty 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 total cost of ownership, 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.
 

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. Velocys Inc. was acquired by Oxford Catalysts in 2008.

Websites: www.icis.com/awards , www.oxfordcatalysts.com