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In the News...

The Catalyst Group: References in the Press

Chemical and Engineering News, July 7, 2008, Vol 86, Number 27, page 9, “Fuel From Garbage: Canadian facility will be first to produce ethanol from solid waste on an industrial scale” by Michael McCoy

Two Canadian companies have won government backing for what they say will be the world's first facility to convert municipal solid waste into ethanol on an industrial scale.

The $70 million plant will be built in Edmonton, Alberta, by GreenField Ethanol, Canada's largest ethanol producer, and Enerkem, a Quebec-based biofuels technology company. The city of Edmonton and the Alberta Energy Research Institute (AERI) will contribute $20 million and the two companies the rest. The city will also put $50 million into separate waste processing and research facilities.

The technology comes from Enerkem, which has research ties to Quebec's University of Sherbrooke. Enerkem's ethanol process sorts and gasifies municipal waste and purifies the gases into the mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen known as syngas. It then catalytically converts syngas into ethanol and methanol. The company claims a cost advantage over competing second-generation ethanol production techniques that use enzymes to break down cellulose into sugars for fermentation into ethanol.

Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel says the plant, set to open in late 2010, will help reduce greenhouse gases and make the city the first in North America to divert 90% of its residential waste from landfills.

John J. Murphy, president of Catalyst Group Resources, a consulting firm that monitors catalytic biofuel processes, says AERI's backing is a sign that Enerkem's process is technologically sound. He notes, however, that government monetary backing is a sign that the plant may not be financially sound.

"Support from an ExxonMobil or a ConocoPhillips would give it more economic credibility," he says. "Return on investment is not measured the same when taxpayers are paying as it is when shareholders are paying." Back to top

Chemical and Engineering News, June 23, 2008, Volume 86, Number 25, p. 21, “Capturing Carbon: Novomer aims to turn carbon dioxide into something useful” by Alex Tullo

IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD to be true. Ithaca, N.Y.-based start-up Novomer has a technology that reacts carbon dioxide with other molecules, locking it into a polymer backbone and putting it to better use than as an atmosphere-warming gas. The company says the anti-greenhouse-gas bonus of its chemistry has drawn attention, but it would rather focus its efforts on making polymers that people want to buy.

At the heart of Novomer's technology are catalysts developed by Geoffrey W. Coates, a chemistry professor at Cornell University. The catalysts are based on transition metals and can break open the highly stable CO2 molecule, enabling it to polymerize with epoxide groups. For example, CO2 combines with ethylene oxide to make the polymer polyethylene carbonate and with propylene oxide to make polypropylene carbonate. These polymers have about 50% and 43% CO2 content by weight, respectively….

Novomer's president, Charles Hamilton, says the main benefit of using CO2 is its availability. "CO2 is a great raw material in that it is very cheap," he says. "In some cases you can get paid to use it."

John J. Murphy, vice president of the Spring House, Pa.-based consulting firm the Catalyst Group, stops just short of saying that polymerizing CO2 is the Holy Grail. "If you can unlock such an inert molecule and do something with it other than injecting it into aquifers, then you are onto something," Murphy says. But he notes a stumbling block for many a new material: "Does the market really need the product?"

This is why, instead of saving the world, Novomer is trying to match the properties of its polymers to market needs. "Ultimately, what determines the success of the materials is their performance and price," Hamilton says….

Hamilton says Novomer is benefiting from fortuitous timing. "The board rooms of every major chemical company in the world are focused on what happens when petroleum runs out," he says. "Think of our chemistry as extending the chemistry of polymers beyond the petroleum era." Back to top

Chemical Week, April 28, 2008, “Catalysts; Rising Energy Costs Bolster Growth" by Michelle Bryner

Climbing energy costs are not holding back catalysts producers.  Profits are increasing at these firms as refining, petchem, and polymer producers increase the use of catalysts to reduce energy consumption and improve yield and process selectivity.  Catalyst producers are investing in expansions and developing new products as a result of this boom in customer demand for energy-saving technologies and for syngas conversion into fuel and chemicals.

Global demand for catalysts used for petchem production, the fastest growing market for catalysts, is forecast to increase 7.2%/year, to $ 4.34 billion in 2013, says a new report from The Catalyst Group (Spring House, PA).  Demand for catalysts used in polymer production is forecast to grow by 5.4%/year, to $ 4.3 billion in 2013, says the study, "The Intelligence Report: Business Shifts in the Global Catalytic Process Industries, 2007-2013." Demand is expected to grow 5.7%/ year, to $ 5.85 billion in 2013, for refinery catalysts including fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) and hydroprocessing catalysts (HPC).

There are several factors at play to make this a strong market for refinery and chemical production catalysts, says Clyde Payn, CEO at The Catalyst Group.  The most significant is the fact that chemical producers and refiners are buying more catalysts to increase productivity and offset energy and petroleum-based raw material costs, Payn says.  Another factor is refiners' shift in raw material consumption toward heavier feedstocks, including heavy crude oil and tar sands, which require more FCC and HPC catalysts to process.  Also, with oil prices above $ 100/barrel, some previously uneconomical alternative fuels have become cost-competitive with gasoline, driving demand for catalysts used in the conversion of syngas to fuels.

Catalysts producers including Albemarle, BASF, Grace Davison, Haldor Topsoe, Johnson Matthey, Sud-Chemie, and UOP posted strong earnings and revenues last year.  Producers that have released their first-quarter earnings are also showing the same trend….

Producing alternative fuels and chemicals from syngas, or syngas conversion, is becoming more attractive as oil prices escalate, says John Murphy, president at The Catalyst Group Resources.  Syngas conversion products include fuels dimethyl ether (DME), methanol, and synthetic natural gas (SNG).  Methanol can also be converted to olefins, followed by the conversion of olefins to diesel.  "It's incredible what becomes cost-effective when oil is in the $ 110/barrel range," Murphy says….Back to top

St Louis Post Dispatch (Missouri), February 7, 2007, “Catalysts:  They Make the World Work”, Eric Hand

Without catalysts, life wouldn't exist.

The catalysts of biology, called enzymes, allow reactions to occur quickly at body temperatures. Plants need catalysts to photosynthesize. People need them to turn food into energy.

"Basically, all of biology runs on catalysts," said Mark Davis, a chemical engineer at the California Institute of Technology.

Most agriculture does, too. Cheap, ammonia-based fertilizer wasn't possible until scientists found the catalyst for making ammonia.

"It's because of catalysis that we can feed the worldwide population today," Davis said.

The biggest use for catalysts is within the oil industry. In its raw state, crude oil isn't good for much. Chemists use catalysts to "crack" the oil: Long carbon chains are broken into shorter, more useful chains - fuels like gasoline and the building blocks of plastics.

Some historians even credit a catalyst for turning the tide of World War II. In 1939, scientists found a catalyst that boosted the octane of airplane fuel. By 1940, British Spitfires and Hurricanes were juiced on the 100-octane fuel, while the German Luftwaffe used 88-octane fuel. In the epic air battle that summer, the Royal Air Force planes could juke and dive faster, and Germany lost twice as many planes.

Just as pharmaceutical companies search for "blockbuster" drugs, so, too, are there blockbuster catalysts. The business is worth $14 billion, according to the Catalyst Group, chemical consultants based in Pennsylvania….Back to top

Chemical Week, August 9, 2006, “Catalysts:  Fuel Regulations Rev Up Demand”, Michelle Bryner with Alex Scott

Refining catalysts firms say they are experiencing strong growth this year, thanks to an increase in demand for catalysts needed to meet tightening environmental regulations, as well as increasing demand for gasoline. Catalysts firms expect the market to keep growing for at least the next five years, and as a result are expanding capacity. However, escalating raw materials costs, in particular the cost of metals and natural gas, continue to be a challenge. Hydroprocessing catalysts makers say they have been able passthrough the price increase to refiners, but fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts firms are having a harder time.

Worldwide sales of refinery catalysts were $ 2.69 billion in 2005, and are expected to grow 3.4%/year, to $ 3.24 million in 2011, according to a recently published report by The Catalyst Group (Spring House, PA). The fastest-growing area is hydrotreating catalysts, which is expected to increase 4.9%/year, to reach $ 1.2 billion in 2011. FCC catalysts will grow 2.6%/year over the next five years, reaching $ 998 million in 2011, the report says. Hydrocracking catalyst sales volumes are expected to remain almost flat over the next five years, but sales values will rise from $ 173 million to $ 208 million in 2011 as a result of increased pricing, it says.

INCREASED DEMAND. "Over the last two years, demand for refining catalysts has increased dramatically as a result of environmental regulations, primarily for lower levels of sulfur in fuels, but also for lower nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide emissions from refineries. The face of the industry has begun to change, with companies beginning to change hands, increased prices, and plant expansions to meet the new demand," the report says….

One area of significant growth is the catalyst additives market. "As operations have become more sophisticated to meet lower sulfur, higher purity fuels, additives provide a more flexible approach because the concentration of the additive as a percent of total catalyst can be altered quite rapidly, therefore allowing the operator to adjust for changing feedstocks, reactor conditions, and vary the quality and quantity of the products produced," says Clyde Payn, Catalyst Group CEO. Catalysts firms are developing additives to: reduce sulfur content, increase octane level, and to selectively produce propylene. "All three major western FCC catalyst companies -- Albemarle, Grace and Engelhard -- now have major additive programs in all areas," the report says.

Refining catalysts firms are responding to the growing demand by building new facilities. "Virtually all companies have expansions in the works or planned," Catalyst Group says.

For hydroprocessing catalysts, skyrocketing prices for promoter metal -- molybdenum, cobalt, and Nickel -- are having the same impact as natural gas prices are having on FCC catalysts production. According to the Catalyst Group, molybdenum prices, which are usually about $ 5-$ 6/lb, increased to $ 35/lb in 2005 due to high demand especially in Asia, and limited availability.

"There's clearly demand for higher activity and more selective catalysts for FCC and hydroprocessing which to date catalysts makers have been able to meet, but I think the activity is ongoing for further improvement because environmental specifications will continue to be more demanding," says John J. Murphy, Catalyst Group president.

"One of the problems in the past with catalysts is that they had certain limits on the amount of sulfur they could desulfurize. This limit was in the 50 ppm range. New catalysts can go down to the lower limits of 10ppm," Payn says. "The challenge has actually been in diesel fuel because the sulfur is tied up in aromatic compounds," Payn says. Back to top

Chemical Week, April 12-19, 2006, "Catalysts: Possible Changes on the Horizon"

The catalyst industry is facing several uncertainties resulting from M&A and regional shifts in demand that could lead to significant changes, analysts say.

"If a company identifies a certain collection of catalysts technology, and it finds them to be increasingly important in its growth prospects or strategic direction,, then it may look at acquiring and bringing that capability in-house," says John Murphy, president of The Catalyst Group (Spring House, PA). "It certainly makes sense that the older companies who may not be catalysts companies but who use significant volumes of catalysts would look at doing something similar," Murphy says.

Companies are expected to seek similar deals or make investments in developing markets to meet local demand growth, analysts say. "The industry is in an unbalanced position, wherein the technology for and production of catalysts is predominantly in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, whereas the growth markets for their application are in China, developing Asia, and the Middle East," Catalyst Group says. "As a result, there has been a movement towards more local catalyst production as well as technology development. This has occurred through grassroots construction in these regions as well as jv's and acquisitions by Western and Asian catalyst companies there."

There is also growing competition from local producers, notably in China. China has "an uncanny ability to identify technology needs and develop technology to meet it, but they don't often have that critical step that the Western companies have mastered, and that's the scale-up and commercialization of new technology," Murphy says. "So there is one pocket where the Western companies will still have opportunity over the next 5-10 years. And unless it's been identified by the Chinese government as core or critical to the economy, it often doesn't get the attention that it needs. "Also, demand at present is "so strong inside China that even if they could produce at full capacity, they would still need to import catalysts," Murphy says.

China is also beginning to recognize opportunities to produce chemicals from its coal and gas resources, Catalyst Group says. "The trend is that due to disadvantages in Europe and the U.S. when it comes to feedstock, like the cost of natural gas, new plants are not being built in the U.S. but they're being built in key places like China, or the Middle East," says Clyde Payne, CEO of Catalyst Group.

The global catalysts industry is worth about $14 billion-$14.5 billion, according to Catalyst Group. The environmental emission control segment, worth about $5.2 billion, is the fastest-growing sector, with growth of 7%-9%/year. The refining segment, worth approximately $2.7 billion, is growing at 3%-3.5%/year, while the petrochemical segment, worth about $2.4 billion, is growing at 2%-2.5%/year. The polymer catalyst segment is worth just over $3 billion, and growing at about 5%-5.5%/year. Within the petrochemical segment, demand for catalysts for oxidation and organic synthesis is growing fastest, Murphy says. They include the production of ethylene oxide, and acrylonitrile in oxidation, and alpha-olefins and surfactants within the organic synthesis area.

R&D in the commodity chemical catalysts business is aimed at developing cheaper and faster processes, as well as ways of gaining proprietary intellectual property, Murphy says. "R&D spending in catalysts for commodity chemicals production has been below the level of catalysts R&D in general, except in areas where the funding has impacts on energy production, such as hydrogen and syngas," Catalyst Group says. Still, there are some new technologies getting a lot of attention, Murphy says. These include producing propylene oxide (PO) via hydrogen peroxide (H2]O2]), and the conversion of propane to acrylonitrile.
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Chemical Week, November 2, 2005, "Chemical Makers Target Catalyst Opportunities in the Energy Market".

Chemical companies are investing in new technologies to meet the changing demands of the energy market, according to attendees at the Catalyst Group's 2005 Catalysis for Future Energy and Fuel Demands conference, held last week in Philadelphia. The conference highlighted advances made over the past year in processes for making alternative fuels, such as gas-to-liquids (GTL) and coal-to-liquids (CTL) technologies, converting biomass into ethanol, and producing dimethyl ether and methanol. Back to top

High Performance Plastics, September 13, 2005, "China Self-Sufficient in Polymer Catalysts"

China's production of polymerisation catalysts is growing rapidly due to its budding production of an extensive range of plastics. The production of polyolefins at 8.3 M tonnes/y and PET at 12.6 M tonnes/y dominate the six major resins (PE, PP, PS, ABS, PVC and PET). However, the volumes produced are still markedly lower than local demand although there is growth in capacity being commissioned. Based on a report by The Catalyst Group Resources, the country's plastics industry is also focusing on developing its own technical and engineering ability, resulting in the creation and commercialisation of proprietary catalytic process technologies. Most catalyst producers are primarily offering catalysts for licensed process technologies such as slurry process for HDPE from Mitsui Petrochemical and Unipol Gas Phase PE process from Dow. Metallocene and single-site organometallic catalysts developed in China for PE and PP are being studied in commercial trials. Western and other Asia catalyst firms have opportunities to work with Chinese catalyst suppliers in terms of production, development and commercialisation. Back to top

European Chemical News, August 8, 2005, "Gas Hydrates: Sea Power"

The Catalyst Group Resources is about to issue a report on the viability of methane hydrates as an alternative energy source. Most of the reserves are to be found at the bottom of the oceans, where there is sufficient pressure and cold temperatures to maintain the substance as crystalline solids. In the report, it is suggested that commercial gas hydrate production could be achievable within a few years, given appropriate investment and technological developments. Elsewhere it has been estimated that commercial production would not be viable for 20-30 years. Initiatives such as the Mallik 2002 project in Canada have demonstrated that gas generation is possible. DSM has an additive, Hybrane, which clears gas pipelines by destabilising methane hydrates that form during natural gas production. The company is assessing whether the product has applications in gas hydrate recovery. Back to top

European Chemical News, August 8, 2005, "Sea Power"

In the race to find an alternative energy source, methane hydrates may be further along the road that anyone has previously suspected, according to the results of a soon-to-be published report by The Catalyst Group Resources (TCGR). Over 95% of world gas hydrate reserves lie deep below the worlds oceans, where they entrap an estimated 10 000 and 11 000 GtC (Gigatonne of carbon) - potentially enough to sustain the worlds energy needs for hundreds of thousands of years. While most current projections suggest that we will have to wait another 20 to 30 years before the prospect of commercial gas hydrate production becomes a reality, the authors of the TCGR report believe that the technology could be economically viable much sooner. "Instead of a 2020 vision, all that it takes is money and a lot of ingenuity and commercial gas hydrate production could be viable by 2010,"says one of its authors Clyde Payn.

However, there is still some way to go before then. While international collaborations such as the Mallik 2002 project have now proven the feasibility of gas generation, Payn cautions that: "You've got to remember that Mallik was an exploratory project. The purpose was really to test the efficiency and then to monitor and understand how the methane hydrate formed under what conditions."

Upping the efficiency of methane generation may be somewhat easier to address. Over the next few years, Payn expects new and established catalytic and semi-catalytic technologies to boost efficiencies by Orders of magnitude'. "This is proven technology, commercially available technology but very much in its infancy [in this application] and it is very clear to us that economically hydrate technology should be much cheaper."

DSM's Hybrane additive, for example, is designed to unclog gas pipelines by destabilising methane hydrates that form as an unwanted by product during the production of natural gas. Work is currently under way to investigate whether the additive may be modified as a catalyst for commercial gas generation, Payn says. "The hope is that it may be possible to put it directly into the well in low concentrations to destabilise the hydrate not in an explosive but in a very controlled way."

Another emerging technology is thermal catalytic downholes or in-well heaters for the controlled disassociation of hydrates in situ. These could be fuelled by the gas produced by the well, making them self-sustainable at relatively low cost. Once perfected, the technology will also have applications in other areas such as tar sands extraction in Canada. "This example highlights one of the more interesting aspects of the study, which is the group's ability to look across industry segments and find opportunities to cross-fertilise technology areas that are often missed," Payn says.

Meanwhile, petroleum geologists meeting in June to discuss progress on the international Japanese Nankai Trough project, begun in 2004, expressed cautious optimism that they have achieved 'solid results'. Their findings should lend further support for continued funding in the field, particularly by the US, which could speed up commercialisation by five to ten years, according to TCGR. In 2000 former US president Clinton committed $50m in a five-year methane hydrates R&D act devoted to finding out more about the technology. One of the outcomes, Payn says, is that even more money is needed to accelerate progress. "One of the opportunities of methane hydrates is that they have proven that regular drilling techniques can be used on many of the resources quite successfully. The development cost of getting it to the point of commercialisation is going to take a major effort, and I think a major international coordinated effort," Payn says.
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Chemical Week, July 24, 2002, "Fine Opportunities Emerge - Catalyst Sector Shifts Lie Ahead"

The market outlook for refinery and other commodity catalysts is relatively flat while new opportunities in specialty catalysts - particularly for the fine chemicals sector - are starting to kick in, analysts say. In refining and chemical catalysts markets there will be a mixed bag with growth from 2003-2005 followed by a decline by 2007-2008, according to The Catalyst Group (Spring House, PA) president and CEO Clyde Payn. "In polymer, fine chemicals/pharmaceuticals and environmental catalysts we see an average annual growth rate of 4%-8%," he says. One of the positive shifts, in the past few years, has been the growth of the fine chemical, intermediate and pharmaceutical catalyst markets. "This market is worth $1.1 billion in catalysts each year - not all of it merchant but a growing proportion of it is," says Payn. "Until five years ago the catalysts industry did not recognize the fine chemicals area as a potential market. However, in the past two years major shifts have occurred from the catalyst industry community - particularly from Engelhard, Johnson Matthey and Synetix. They have recognized that there is a major new growth market for them," says Payn.

"Engelhard's position as a leading player in automobile catalysts could, however, come under pressure from emerging catalyst technology firm Catalytic Solutions Inc...CSI has developed catalytic coating technology, Mixed Phase Catalyst (MPC), for automobile tailpipes that, it claims, uses 50% -80% less precious metals than conventional technologies. An analyst review of CSI at the end of June sent shares of Engelhard and catalyst firm OM Group 10% lower...Additionally, CSI says it has opened early discussions with potential partners in the area of low- and high-temperature fuel cell catalysts...While fuel cells hold much promise we are really in orders of magnitude four times away from commercial economics at this stage," says The Catalyst Group's Payn.

"...Another emerging technology shift in the catalyst sector is in the novel application of zeolite technologies. 'We are seeing a shift in the potential use of zeolite technology for reactions that may prove to be a significant development area during the next five-to-10 years and may start to change the shift in of power relative to syngas manufacture in the traditional thermal sense,' says The Catalyst Group?.These catalytic routes are starting to look very attractive for olefins production says The Catalyst Group." Back to top

Chemical Market Reporter, June 24, 2002 "Biocatalysis: Transformations in the Making"

"...The merchant enzyme industry reached roughly $1.8 billion in sales in 2000 and is growing at about 14% per year," according to Clyde Payn, president of The Catalyst Group, a Spring House, Pa.-based consultancy. "Over the last five years, the main change affecting the speed of development in new biocatalysis technology has been directed evolution or mutagenesis capabilities, says The Catalyst Group's Mr. Payn. This technology involves the shuffling of amino acids encoding the RNA and DNA of enzymes to make the products more active and specific for desired transformations and reaction conditions. 'Ten years ago enzyme evolution was Darwinian,' the explains. 'Today it is synthetic, and the technology is not only widely accepted, but also available to most players, which has dramatically changed the economics for using enzymes in synthesis.' In the future, Mr. Payn believes, biocatalyst developers will be looking to techniques such as proteomics to enable them to predict how to shuffle genes in order to obtain novel biocatalysts with particular attributes. He also points to two key trends for the use of biocatalysis in chemical synthesis - the greater availability of selective enzymes that are much more highly active and tailored to specific transformations and the development of much more sophisticated and higher productivity technologies." Back to top

Chemical Market Reporter, "June 24, 2002 "Biocatalysis Branches Out"

"...Increasing interest in biocatalysis was also evident at BioCat2002, a conference sponsored by The Catalyst Group (TCG), a Spring House, Pa.-based consultancy. BioCat2002 was conceived and launched as a platform to action, to develop projects that could be derived from the general findings obtained from TCG's recently completed biotechnology benchmarking report, The Biotechnology Revolution: Biopolymers and Biochemistry Come of Age. The conference was also structured to provide cameos of leading developments in various areas of biotechnology and to stimulate cross-fertilization of experiences in both project development and bioinformatic exchanges. Back to top

Oil & Gas Journal, June 17, 2002 "Industry Trends"

"Future worldwide demand growth for motor fuels will focus on diesel, while demand growth for gasoline and fuel oil will stagnate. Jean Sentenac, chairman and CEO of Axens, Rueil-Malmaison, France, projected those trends during a keynote address he made to the CatCon2002 conference in Houston earlier this month. Catalyst Group Resources, Spring House, Pa., organized the conference. New catalytic cracking technologies for crude oil refining, chemical production, nanotechnology, and gas-to-liquids projects also were unveiled at the CatCon2002 conference." Back to top

Chemical Week, March 13,2002 "Catalysts Enjoy Regulation Growth"

"Despite harsh economic conditions in the chemical industry, many of the major players in the catalysts sector have ended the year with sales and profit growth. According to The Catalyst Group (Spring House, PA) CEO Clyde Payn, world catalysts sales for 2001 were picking up until the September 11th terrorist attacks and subsequently fell away at year-end. Refinery catalysts saw better business than chemicals and petrochemical catalysts, which have had a tough time, says Payn." Back to top

Chemical & Engineering News, February 18, 2002 "Biocatalysis Buzz"

"The chemical industry has taken a while to understand 'where biotechnology can have an impact' on its activities (Mark J.) Burk (Diversa'' vice president for chemical product development), notes. Part of the reason on Diversa's side, he says is that 'we weren't able to speak publicly about partner programs. It was difficult to make people aware of our capabilities without concrete examples.' The company can freely speak about capabilities coming out of this program as did Burk in Philadelphia last November at ChiraSource 2001, a conference organized by Catalyst Group Resources, Spring House, PA. Back to top

Chemical & Engineering News, December 10, 2001 "Chiral Cravings"

"At the ChiraSource 2001 symposium in Philadelphia last month - sponsored by The Catalyst Group Resources - conferees returned to the perennial topic of how best to produce single-enantiomer compounds. Thinking is often heavily influenced by chemical suppliers' presentations, which stem from their point of view as providers either of single technologies or of complete 'toolboxes' of many such methods." Back to top

The Economist, December 8, 2001 "Designer plastics"

"...just as handy is the ability of single-site catalysts to add so-called polar and functional group, such as fluorine and acrylic, into the molecular backbone of polyolefins to impart specific physical properties. That, says John Murphy of The Catalyst Group, an industrial consultancy based in Spring House, Pennsylvania, will allow plastic makers to dial in properties and launch plastics that perform in ways never thought possible before.To be sure, the use of metallocene polymers has grown at a 25-30% clip in recent years. In total, the market amounted to about 1.1m tonnes of polyethylene and nearly 115,000 tonnes of polypropylene in 2000, says The Catalyst Group. All the technical issues associated with metallocenes are minor compared with the intellectual-property battles that have ravaged the business over the past decade. It is no small irony that many of the suits were finally resolved in merger. In only five years, the Catalyst Group's Mr. Murphy points out, ten leading polyolefin producers have disappeared." Back to top

Chemical Week, November 14, 2001 "Patent Settlement Clears the Licensing Picture"

"The recent settlement of a metallocene polyethylene (mPE) patent dispute between ExxonMobil Chemical and Chevron Phillips Chemical concludes the last of a string of long-running intellectual property battles, and clarifies the picture for metallocene licensees. The resolution of disputes should spur interest in metallocene development, analysts say. 'Companies which had previously remained committed to Ziegler-Natta systems are now more free to consider competitive technologies,' says John J. Murphy, director/metallocene and single-site catalyst program at The Catalyst Group (Spring House, PA). 'Metallocene resin evaluations and their incorporation into commercial products may be expected to proliferate, with Dow, ExxonMobil, Chevron Phillips, and Basell as the primary beneficiaries.' Back to top

Chemical Week, October 31, 2001 "Drug Industry Developments Bear Fruit for Catalyst Makers; Chiral Chemistry"

"...Astra Zeneca recently switched from an equal-parts mixture of enantiomers to an optically pure chiral compound as the active ingredient in its popular Nexium antacid, making the drug more potent in the process. Nexium has sales between $6 billion and $6.5 billion, says Clyde Payn, president and CEO of consulting firm The Catalyst Group (Spring House, PA)." Back to top

Plastics News, October 31, 2001 "Market Studies...Catalyst Group study addresses PP issues"

"Unprecedented producer consolidations and technical changes have and will continue to dramatically change the shape of competition in the polypropylene industry. The recent formation of Basell, Dow Chemical Co.'s acquisition of Union Carbide Corp., and the dramatic reshaping of BP are changing the landscape. Spring House, Pa.-based Catalyst Group's report, "Polypropylene and its Copolymers: Technology Innovation and Strategies to Excel in 2001 and Beyond," addresses the technical, legal, strategic and supply/demand issues with which the industry is wrestling. Back to top

The study points out that two very strong, opposing forces characterize the PP industry: Global demand is large, and growth is still attractive, with an estimated 5 percent annual growth rate through 2005. But supply remains long, and monomer prices are giving producers less than satisfactory margins and earnings. Despite these conditions, the industry is poised to introduce and capitalize on new technologies, as well as new specialty PP copolymers and terpolymers, including functionalized resin systems that enable both engineered and elastomeric PP grades to be produced. Back to top

Chemical Week, October 31, 2001 "A Partly Sunny Outlook in Emission Control Markets"

"A set of strict new EPA guidelines limiting emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (Sox) and other pollutants from chemical plants and refineries is set to go into effect in May 2003 and should stimulate demand for emission control catalysts. That is good news for catalyst makers, as the recessionary climate of 2001 has cut into profits at many chemical companies, curtailing spending on new pollution abatement technology, says Clyde Payn, president and CEO of consulting firm The Catalyst Group (Springhouse,PA)..."

"...The market for catalysts to control stationary emissions from industrial and power plants wat $855 million in 1999, and should reach $1.063 billion by 2005, says Payn. Sales of emission-control catalysts outside the industrial, power, and vehicle are were $170 million, and they should reach $526 million in 2005, he says."

"Payn also says that EPA's enforcement of existing emission-control regulations has not been particularly vigorous, and he questions how strongly the new rules will be enforced. The European chemical industry has begun to show signs of recession, which may also curb spending on emission-control in that region, he says." Back to top

Chemical and Engineering News, October 22, 2001 "Strength in Numbers"

"Clyde F. Payn, chief executive officer of the Catalyst Group, Spring House, Pa., expects development times for oil-refinery catalysts to halve because using combinatorial chemistry for developing improved heterogeneous catalyst provides a much broader database, allowing you to scale up more quickly and skip some of the steps you?d do to prove commercializability."

"This extended development time for refinery catalysts occurs because refiners are very risk-averse to adopting new technologies," Payn adds. "They need to go through thorough testing of mechanically stable catalysts for a couple of years in scaled-up and pilot reactors under plant operating conditions before anyone is willing to take the risk of putting them in a commercial unit." Back to top

Chemical and Engineering News, October 22, 2001 "Catalyst Producers Get Cracking"

"The oil-refining catalyst market is about $2 billion per year," Clyde F. Payn, chief executive officer of the Catalyst Group, Spring House, Pa., sees the market as slightly larger and expects it to grow to $2.4 billion in sales by 2002."

"...In particular, the growth rate in specific applications like hydrodesulfurization (HDS) or hydroprocessing to improve quality will be significantly higher than baseline. The low-sulfur fuel regulations that will be going into effect in 2005 will force refiners to increase their HDS capacity, causing a big jump in demand for HDS catalysts, Payn maintains"

"... because catalyst makers are competing for the business of fewer and larger refiners, the marketplace is extremely competitive". In fact, the refinery catalyst market is the most competitive segment of the global catalyst market," says Payn. "Because all catalyst is sold on a bid contract basis," he adds, "that makes the catalyst companies very competitive. They want that big business and fight for it."

"...In fact, the painfully slim margins resulting from fierce competition create a huge barrier to entry for others wanting to get into the business, says Payn. The large investment required to enter the refining catalyst business does not make sense for those who are not already in it."

"...However, if oil companies can extract value in the performance of advanced catalysts, Payn adds, they are willing to pay a premium. A sophisticated new catalyst that improves crude oil conversion just 1% will generate millions of dollars of additional revenue that will justify its cost." Back to top

Chemical Week, July 18, 2001 "Combinatorial Chemistry"

"Many key patents for combinatorial techniques are held by Symyx and other third-party firms, but there have been no intellectual property fights so far. "The claims of the Symyx patents are broad and there is some question whether they are defendable," says Clyde Payn, CEO of The Catalyst Group (Spring House, PA). "Many of these techniques have been around since the 1970s. Companies such as Symyx should focus on contract research and selling tools to capitalize on the demand for high-throughput screening", says Payn." Back to top

Chemical Market Reporter, June 18, 2001 "Single Site Catalysts: Commercialization and Development: Industry Overview"

"Under the EC resolution, Dow agreed to divest to BP the rights and patents to gas-phase Insite technology that Dow and BP had developed in a previous joint development agreement. Dow also agreed to grant single site catalyst patent licenses to interested third parties. Some companies may be interested in such licenses, but would probably face significant market barriers to commercialization, says John J. Murphy, vice-president of The Catalyst Group Resources at The Catalyst Group, a Spring House, PA based consultancy." Back to top

Chemical Market Reporter, June 12, 2000 "Exploring Alternative Catalysts in Olefin Polymerization"

"DuPont and BP Amoco have taken an interesting approach to commercializing the new iron/cobalt catalyst technology by agreeing, early in the process, not to work against one another," observes John Murphy, program director at the Catalyst Group, a Spring House, Pa.-based consultancy. "Both companies will be able to achieve uncontested products much more quickly." Back to top

Chemical News & Intelligence, May 25, 2000 "Analysis: Fitch affirms Engelhard debt: growth ahead"

A report by Merrill Lynch on catalysts cited predictions by The Catalyst Group of Spring House, Pennsylvania and said: "Growth in the chemical and polymers catalyst business has come from industry consolidation, customer outsourcing of catalyst activities and alliances between catalyst companies and technology-process providers. The Catalyst Group expects these trends to continue." Back to top

Chemical News & Intelligence, May 3, 2000 "Analysis: EC ok gives Dow position in best technologies"

The European Commission (EC) appears to have crafted a "legitimate solution" to a "delicate problem" with its conditions on the Dow-Union Carbide merger, a consultant told CNI Wednesday. "I'm not surprised Dow is pleased," said John Murphy, program director for metallocene and single site catalysts at The Catalyst Group in Spring House, Pennsylvania. Back to top

Chemical Market Reporter, April 24, 2000 "Combinatorial Chemistry in Process Development"

"One way to ensure the fastest possible development of these new drugs is the introduction of automation into chemical process research and development," states Johann Hiebel, of the departments of synthetic chemistry and analytical science at SmithKline Beecham, who presented at CombiCat, sponsored by The Catalyst Group, a Spring House, Pa.-based consultancy, last November. Back to top

Chemical News & Intelligence, March 30, 2000 "DeWitt 2000: Mergers not hurting innovation - yet"

Large-scale consolidations in the chemical industry do not appear significant enough yet to hamper technological innovation and should help by providing larger pools of research funding, a technology expert told CNI here Thursday. But Howard Blum, vice president for polymers at The Catalyst Group, also warned it could become a problem if the mergers continue long enough to create an oligopoly. Back to top

Chemical News & Intelligence, March 30, 2000 "DeWitt 2000: Customer needs drive polymer technology"

A leading consultant...Howard Blum, vice president for polymers at The Catalyst Group of Spring House, Pennsylvania...offered his observations in an effort to show the industry "how technology can create added value in the polymer stream"...Blum identified some specific companies whose fortunes have turned on their ability or failure to plan technological development with an eye toward creation of value for their customers. Back to top

Chemical Week, March 15, 2000 "Petroleum Sector Stays a Crude Business"

"The refining industry is faced with huge investments to meet the 2004-2006 sulfur regulations, and I don't think refiners will ever get that investment back," says Clyde Payn, CEO at consulting firm The Catalyst Group (Spring House, PA). The net effect on the refining catalyst industry will be negative, as refiners try to make up for the necessary extra investment through further cost-cutting, although some of that investment will filter down to catalyst suppliers, says Payn. Back to top

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