Process Engineers Use New Catalysts to Solve Old Problems

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Looking Out Into the Future

One of the visions included in the roadmap is about to become a reality, namely industrial use of the greenhouse gas CO₂ as a low-cost C1 synthesis building block. Admittedly, process development has in many ways proven to be a difficult nut to crack for the catalysis engineers. CO₂ is extremely difficult to catalytically activate, and even after a suitable catalyst has been found, the problem of service life remains.

Bayer Technology Services has two irons in the fire. A pilot line went into operation at the Leverkusen Chemical Park last year to produce polyols which are derived from CO₂. RWTH Aachen University and the CAT Catalytic Center, which is operated jointly by the university and Bayer, are the partners on the project. The developers tested more than 200 different catalysts before finding a suitable candidate. Optimization is the next task, as the proportion of CO₂ needs further improvement and the same applies to the product properties.

A second project entitled CO₂rrect goes one step further. The researchers want to use hydrogen to activate the greenhouse gas. The hydrogen is produced by hydrolysis using renewable energy sources.

Additional Information

Interview with Dr. Friedrich Seitz, Head of the Chemicals Research & Engineering technology platform at BASF

Heterogeneous catalysis is still the workhorse at BASF, but homogeneous catalysis is playing an increasingly important role now that greater emphasis is being placed on specialty chemicals.

PROCESS: Dr. Seitz, the chemical industry is heavily dependent on catalysts. BASF is of course no exception. What aspects of catalyst research are you currently focusing on?

Seitz: BASF is working on environmental, chemical and refinery catalyst applications. We use both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, with heterogeneous catalysis making up the lion’s share. However, homogeneous catalysis is indispensable for reactions such as hydroformylation and enantioselective reactions. Obviously this involves process development. The fact that the catalyst is dissolved in the reaction medium does not make things any easier. In recent years, we have taken inspiration from the petrochemical industry and have used traditional techniques such as continuous production as a model for fine chemicals.

PROCESS: Could you put a number on the size of the contribution which catalysts make to value-add at the company?

Seitz: Catalysts are used in around 80% of all processes. 10% of that figures involves homogeneous catalysis. Without catalysts, production of those products would be either impossible or considerably more complex.

PROCESS: An outsider generally has the impression that universities develop a large number of catalysis, few of which ever find their way into industry. Why is that?

Seitz: That impression is not actually correct. Universities do not concentrate on process development. Instead, they conduct basic research such as synthesis of new catalysts and investigation of how they can be used in new reactions. Universities also try to gain a detailed understanding of how the underlying mechanisms in the reactions actually work. Industry takes the new reactions and optimizes them to the point where they are ready for practical application. That naturally presupposes that the processes which are based on those reactions are cost-effective. Universities cannot and should not be involved in this final step, just as industry only has limited capacity for basic research.

PROCESS: A partnership has been in place with the University of Heidelberg for the development of homogeneous catalysts since 2006. Have any of the results been used in industrial applications?

Seitz: CaRLa was instituted to promote intensified technology transfer from the university to industry. It has the dual function of staying up to date with new trends at the heart of academic research and applying the knowledge gained to the industrial environment, and it also works directly on the really difficult challenges of catalyst research. The ACER project funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research is a good example. We are developing a catalyst for making acrylate from carbon dioxide and ethylene. Although researchers have been looking at this for 30 years without success, we have now produced this reaction using a homogeneous catalyst which we have synthesized. Technology is transferred via this route to BASF on a regular basis.

The Ultimate Technology

BASF is also active in this field of technology and is working intensively on a process which will make catalyzed hydration of carbon dioxide to formic acid suitable for industrial application. BASF produces 230,000 MT of formic acid a year. A feedstock available more or less at no cost from its own flue gas emissions would be an attractive proposition.

The team working under the direction of Dr. Thomas Schaub and Dr. Rocco A. Paciello has developed a multi-phase liquid-liquid process which kills two birds with one stone. The homogeneous ruthenium catalyst is recovered, and the formic acid can be distilled off. Recycling of all reactants is part of the new concept.

The BASF process not only solves a classic problem encountered in homogeneous catalysis, namely recovery of the catalyst from the reaction mixture, something which is particularly important with catalysts that contain metal. It is also a good example which shows how catalyst research can have a big impact which goes beyond the realm of process engineering to include huge social issues such as new raw materials, climate change and energy efficiency.

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