Clariant's Shiftmax® 300 MTS Catalyst Delivers Excellent Performance in BHCC Hydrogen Unit

Clariant and Shanghai Huaxi's partnership has made a successful start. Since the establishment of their strategic alliance in late January 2018, the two companies have undertaken a major joint project to develop a hydrogen production unit at Zhejiang Baling Hengyi Caprolactam Co Ltd (BHCC), located in the Xiaoshan district of Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. BHCC, a leading Chinese specialty chemicals company, is a joint venture between SINOPEC Group and Zhejiang Hengyi Group, which operates the world's largest single-line caprolactam production facility with an annual capacity of 500 kilotons. The facility's hydrogen unit was constructed with a combination of Shanghai Huaxi's sophisticated hydrogen production technology and Clariant's state-of-the-art ShiftMax 300 MTS catalyst. Operations, which began in July 2019, have resulted in highly satisfactory performance, for example with only 0.12% Carbon Monoxide (CO) content at the reactor outlet. At an average flow rate of 25,000 Nm3/s in BHCC's hydrogen production rate, BHCC's hydrogen production rate increased by 2.5% per unit of raw feed, which means an annual gain of USD 500,000. This production unit also operates with 32% lower electricity consumption and 44.4% higher steam production, respectively meaning USD 10,000 and USD 440,000 annually. Simplified operations have reduced capital investment by a further USD 30,000, as no mechanical structure is required for the waste heat boiler. Additionally, with Clariant's ShiftMax 300 technology, it is possible to recycle all condensate water and steam produced in the stripper as boiler feed water to reduce energy consumption.

Based on current performance, BHCC is expected to benefit from approximately USD 1 million in total annual savings.

BHCC Vice General Manager Fei Shen said, "Clariant and Shanghai Huaxi have delivered on their promises very well. With extremely reliable and stable operations, we were able to quickly achieve higher efficiency and productivity. We also appreciate the technical expertise and service support provided by the two companies." ShiftMax 300 is an ideally stabilized copper-zinc catalyst for the MTS process. It operates successfully at an extremely low steam-to-dry-gas ratio of 0.31 mol/mol. Due to highly dispersed copper crystallites, the catalyst provides high activity at low temperatures around 185°C. This allows continuous operation at high space velocity close to equilibrium. Producers also benefit from the catalyst's excellent sulfur resistance, stable pressure drop, and thermal and hydrothermal stability. To further simplify commissioning, Clariant also offers ShiftMax 300RS in a reduced and stabilized version. Zhiyuan Ji, General Manager of Shanghai Huaxi Chemical Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd, said, "We are pleased to offer a joint solution with Clariant to increase the benefits of hydrogen production for BHCC. So far, we have signed five contracts from China and Southeast Asia in a short period of time. Our combined strengths in hydrogen production and equal service commitment will bring significant advantages to our customers." Stefan Heuser, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Clariant Catalysts, said, "We are extremely pleased with our partnership with Shanghai Huaxi at BHCC's hydrogen unit. The excellently complementary products and processes of our two companies have demonstrated that our customers can successfully maximize their total hydrogen production and significantly reduce their costs."   ShiftMax® is a registered trademark of Clariant in many countries.