As a technology licensor, catalyst supplier and service provider, the company has been growing its market share steadily and is appreciated by its clients for the innovative solutions it brings to the table

Haldor Topsoe is a world leader in catalysis and process technology driving optimal performance within chemical processing, hydroprocessing and emissions management. Topsoe has been growing its market share steadily in the region and is appreciated by the firm’s clients for the innovative solutions it brings to the table.

Below are the excerpts from an interview with Prashant Dongre – Account Manager who helps refineries and petrochemicals with innovative technology and catalytic solutions for better profitability and reliability.

Could you tell us about the role played by catalysts in the region’s chemical, petrochemical and refining sectors?

Topsoe catalysts help our clients to produce Ammonia, Methanol, Sulphuric acid, Syngas in a reliable and safe way and help them improve the profitability of their plant. For refineries, our catalysts help them produce hydrogen, ultra-low sulphur diesel as well as naphtha, kero and jet fuel that meet market specifications. Our SOX emission control technologies help clients meet environmental regulations in an energy efficient and reliable manner.

What is the nature of your association with Saudi Industry?

Topsoe has been one of the trusted suppliers of catalysts, services and technologies for Sabic for many years. We have a good catalyst installed base with different Sabic affiliates and Saudi Aramco.

Which are the new technologies that Haldor Topsoe has implemented in the region?

Topsoe WSA (wet gas sulphuric acid) is a proven technology to reduce SOx and NOx emissions in the refineries and gas plants. Due to highly exothermic nature of the reaction, HP steam is generated along with commercial grade sulphuric acid which can be bought by traders and acid off-takers. WSA is a reliable, safer and more economical alternative to conventional Claus Plants or amine-based TGTUs (tail gas treating units).

We have also launched The TopClaus sulphur recovery – combining the best of two proven technologies. The TopClaus sulphur recovery solution combines the industry-standard Claus gas desulphurising process and the Topsoe wet gas sulphuric acid process (WSA) to achieve 99.9+ per cent sulphur removal efficiency (SRE) from acid gases – at a significantly lower cost of ownership. You will get the best of two thoroughly proven sulphur recovery technologies – combined for even greater benefits. The Claus part of the TopClaus solution is identical to the Claus technology that you know.

Having established a strong match between you and the Saudi industry, how do you see prospects for your company over the coming year? How are you focusing on consolidating Haldor Topsoe’s products and services portfolio?

As a technology licensor, catalyst supplier and service provider, we have been growing our market share steadily and are appreciated by our clients for the innovative solutions we bring to the table.

We have launched ClearView which is a Connected Services solution based on cloud-based analytics and expert support. Plant operating data is automatically uploaded to cloud-based simulation tools and analytics software using Topsoe’s proprietary models within catalysis and process design. The results are visualised through online dashboards, giving an easy overview of how to optimise plant operation and avoid potential trouble with respect to both individual catalyst and equipment performance, as well as overall plant optimisation. The online dashboards are monitored by our experts, ensuring close collaboration with focus on optimising overall plant KPIs (key performance indicators) such as production, operating cost, specific net energy consumption (SNEC) and uptime.

ClearView is built on a proven IIoT platform together with our strategic partner Honeywell - a global leader in this area, ensuring maximum data security and IIoT system reliability for your plant.

Which are the key Saudi chemical and petrochemical companies that Haldor Topsoe is currently engaged in co-development?

Topsoe invests 10 per cent of their annual revenue in R&D. This has resulted into many novel technology and catalytic solutions that we have offered to our clients. We are open for collaborations and / co-development in catalytic solutions business.

What are the company’s plans for the next year? Do you plan expansion?

We are present in Al-Khobar to cater to our clients in Saudi Arabia and also in Bahrain to serve our GCC clients including Saudi Arabia. This has helped us improve the way we serve our clients in an effective and timely manner. This region has a great business potential and we look forward to serve our clients including Sabic and Saudi Aramco even better through our technologies, catalysts services and possible R&D collaborations.

Could you tell us in detail about ATR technology called SynCOR?

Topsoe’s SynCOR autothermal reforming technology (previously called ATR) helps achieve high conversion with one-step reforming. Other benefits of Topsoe’s SynCOR process include smaller footprint and therefore lower capital costs, as well as lower operating costs due to significantly reduced steam-to-carbon (S/C) ratios. SynCOR plants operate at an S/C ratio as low as 0.6. Low S/C ratios and high reforming temperatures also enable larger single-train capacities and produce syngas that is characterised by very low methane content, low H2/CO ratios and high CO/CO2 ratios. The syngas produced is well suited for application in ammonia, methanol and gas-to-liquid (GTL) plants, as well as TIGAS gasoline plants and syngas hubs. The benefit of the higher CO/CO2 ratios in syngas is the reduction in size of the methanol synthesis section, lowering capital costs even further. The benefit for ammonia plants is the reduced steam throughput, which significantly reduces the sizes of equipment and piping, keeping it within standard sizes and lowering Capex when scaling up.