MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, today announced the successful start-up and operation of its pre-sulfided ShiftMax 820S Sour Gas Shift (SGS) catalyst at a commercial methanol production facility of Shanghai Huayi Energy Chemical Co. Ltd., said the company in its press release.
The achievement is of particular significance as it is the first industrial application of the newly introduced ShiftMax 820S catalyst in China. Clariant's new generation ShiftMax 820S SGS catalyst employs a proprietary pre-sulfiding process, which offers many advantages for coal-to-chemical producers. The new catalyst greatly improves working conditions by avoiding the use of flammable and toxic agents, such as carbon disulfide or dimethyl sulfide, during the commissioning phase. Moreover, it reduces the risk of high temperature excursions and sulfur emissions during plant start-up and production.
ShiftMax 820S also optimizes processes as it is typically ready for start-up three times faster than conventional catalysts. Besides saving time, the higher activity of ShiftMax 820S reduces syngas and energy requirements, thus allowing more economical, efficient and simplified operations. ShiftMax 820S is part of an industrially proven catalyst series, which are suitable for all types of coal-to-chemical applications and gasification technologies. The catalyst can be used as a simple drop-in solution without changing any plant equipment.
The launch of ShiftMax 820S demonstrates Clariant's commitment to offering advanced catalytic solutions for the chemical industry. Another recent introduction is a new SGS process, jointly developed by Clariant and Siemens. Through optimization and simplification of total plant concepts, the new SGS process reduces capital expenditure for the shift system by up to 20%, and optimizes operating costs with up to 30% lower catalyst volume. Futhermore, the technique can handle different steam-to-gas ratios and high carbon monoxide content without adjustment of the feed gas, resulting in improved availability and reliability of the whole process. Thanks to steam-independent control of the exothermal reaction, it is an inherently safe process and there is no risk of temperature run-away reactions. The new SGS process is available for use by all coal gasification companies.
As MRC informed earlier, Clariant entered into an agreement with an intent to acquire a part of Vivimed Labs Limited's personal care portfolio, subject to necessary regulatory, statutory and other approvals, as may be required.
Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints.
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