Brian Davis, CQE, Catacel quality manager

For the fifth time, Ohio-based Catacel Corp has earned ISO 9001:2008 with Design Certification. Continuation of Certification is earned only after diligent independent analysis of a company’s practices, documents and record systems, and determination that they strictly comply with corporate standards and quality management commitments. Catacel Quality Manager Brian Davis, CQE, first led Catacel to ISO 9001 Certification in 2010.

“Catacel is a quickly growing manufacturer whose emerging structured catalyst technologies will press it into even higher rates of growth,” says Davis. “We took the opportunity in 2010 while still at a small size to create and infuse a strict commitment to quality into our corporate culture and operating practices.

Catacel’s Quality Management System addresses the totality of our operation, both with focus on internal systems and outputs, as well as with our interactions with employees, vendors, customers and markets.”

Catacel designs and manufactures structured catalysts, a technology in which catalysts are coated onto thin foil structures that are designed to address heat transfer, throughput and pressure drop requirements in reactors found in systems ranging from stationary fuel cells to industrial hydrogen steam methane reformers. Superior heat transfer and reduced pressure drop mean fuel consumption for reactions such as steam methane reforming can be reduced by as much as 30 percent without change to reformate production.

Catacel’s structured catalysts can be custom designed for specific systems and requirements, and range in geometry from coated flat strips to highly structured and engineered forms incorporating fins, fans and various corrugated and wound configurations. Because Catacel’s catalysts operate with lower levels of fuel combustion, severity is reduced on reactor hardware such as reformer tubes so that the service life of these expensive system components can be doubled.

For more information on Catacel structured catalysts, visit www.catacel.com or call (330) 527-0731, ext. 115.

Catacel Corp. has developed a heat exchange reactor that will provide a cost-effective, durable and energy-efficient platform to enable CO2 capture, the most costly step of the carbon capture and sequestration processes. Catacel’s sorbent-coated foil technology can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce imports of energy from foreign sources. This technology enables a recently developed sorbent material to be displayed on corrugated metal foil surfaces, which are then arranged in a fixed bed heat exchanging reactor, a scaled version of reactors that Catacel currently uses in fuel cell, fuel reforming and other applications. The integration of these technologies represents the first such practical and commercially viable process that overcomes the physical and chemical challenges of separating CO2 from the exhaust of power plants.

Heat management is a critical issue that has limited the scale-up and deployment of solid sorbents. Catacel has developed proprietary heat management technology in order to skillfully manage temperature in these coated structures. The absorption/adsorption of CO2 in an actual operating system can be quite exothermic and reactor design has a major impact on the economics of sorbent-based capture processes. Heat management is vital to prevent “temperature runaway” and subsequent sorbent degradation during the absorption step.

Catacel’s technology for adhering materials to metal foil surfaces and arranging those surfaces in heat exchange relationships will provide a durable and cost-effective platform for capturing CO2 post-combustion. This key implementation design provides a novel solution for deploying sorbent materials such that flue gases are efficiently exposed to sorbent materials.

Catacel has nearly 25 years of experience engineering and producing high-performance structured catalysts. The company has engineered solutions for a diverse range of global clientele in the aerospace, fuel cell, industrial gas, refinery, chemical and clean-tech industries. Visit www.catacel.com to learn more.

Demand for structured catalysts from Ohio-based Catacel Corp. is resulting in the addition of a production shift. Dave Becker, Catacel vice president of manufacturing, is meeting the new demand with a clever resource management plan that will overlap Catacel’s experienced production staff with new second-shift employees. Process equipment and furnace schedules are also being adjusted to optimize utilization and streamline the output of catalyst-coated parts.
“This new burst of contracts comes just in advance of our planned move to larger facilities in the fourth quarter,” Becker says. “The timing isn’t quite perfect, but Catacel has always demonstrated excellent flexibility and creativity in meeting production demands.”
Catacel designs and manufactures structured catalysts, a technology in which catalysts are coated onto thin foil structures that are designed to address heat transfer, throughput and pressure drop requirements in reactors found in systems ranging from stationary fuel cells to industrial hydrogen steam methane reformers. Catacel’s structured catalysts have several benefits.

• They typically move heat into or away from a catalytic reaction with much higher efficiency than do the legacy technology, catalyst-coated ceramic pellets.

• Superior heat transfer and reduced pressure drop mean fuel consumption for endothermic reactions such as steam methane reforming can be reduced by as much as 30 percent without change to reformate production.

• Exothermic reactions, those that create heat such as combustion reactions do, can be tapped for higher heat recuperation using Catacel structured catalyst technology, leading to additional system performance gains.

Catacel’s structured catalysts can be custom designed for specific systems and requirements, and range in geometry from coated flat strips to highly structured and engineered forms incorporating fins, fans, and various corrugated and wound configurations. Typically these structured catalysts provide up to two times the reaction surface area than pellets in the same volume, resulting in the ability to make systems smaller, lighter and more compact.
The additional reaction surface area also leads to as much as 100 percent more service life than demonstrated by pellets. Because Catacel’s catalysts operate with lower levels of fuel combustion, severity is reduced on reactor hardware such as reformer tubes so that the service life of these expensive system components can be doubled.
For more information on Catacel structured catalysts, visit www.catacel.com or call (330) 527-0731, ext. 115.

What did FCExpo in Tokyo and Nitrogen+Syngas in Berlin have in common? A focus on more efficient steam methane reforming for the production of hydrogen.

Whether for a compact reformer that helps make residential fuel cells affordable without subsidies, or for a huge industrial steam methane reformer (SMR) at an ammonia or methanol plant, there was great interest at both venues in Catacel’s structured catalysts that produce hydrogen syngas at lower temperatures using less fuel.

One of the key reasons why Catacel’s metal foil structured catalysts are so interesting is the design range of the foil itself. While “innovations” in pellet catalysts often are in the form of an extra dimple here or hole there, Catacel designs foil catalyst supports into a huge range of geometries that are optimized to impart specific heat exchange, pressure drop, flow management, bypass, surface area, lifetime and reaction management properties in a reformer, catalytic combustor or fuel processor. In fact, no other catalyst support material beats thin metal foil for highly compact, high-performance, heat-exchanging catalytic reaction applications.

Catacel is recognized worldwide as a leader in heat exchanging catalyst technology that reduces fuel use, operates more efficiently at lower temperatures, moves heat in and out of reaction beds more effectively and provides years of problem-free service. This is why fuel cell system designers, industrial SMR designers and process plant operators worldwide are evaluating Catacel’s structured catalysts for their applications. Learn more about Catacel at www.catacel.com. e, pressure drop, flow management, by-pass, surface area, lifetime and reaction management properties in a reformer, catalytic combustor or fuel processor. In fact, no other catalyst support material beats thin metal foil for highly compact, high performance, heat exchanging catalytic reaction applications.

Michael Skeggs, B.S. ChE, brings to Catacel substantial experience in leading process engineering and R&D teams at locations around the world. His diverse career spans industries from polymers to electronics manufacturing and he has led programs for custom engineering, equipment design and new product scale-up that incorporated cutting-edge technology into innovative solutions for difficult problems.

He is Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing trained and has been recognized for his manufacturing efficiency improvements and dedication to customer satisfaction. As engineering manager, Mike will lead Catacel’s technology team in the design, development and continuous improvement of Catacel’s products, including compact reactors, heat exchanging catalytic components and catalyst supports used in industrial hydrogen and syngas production, fuel cell power units, gas separation and air quality systems.

Mike will also engage on production automation programs driven by Catacel’s volume manufacturing requirements.

Here’s a very well informed article by our colleague, Dr. Dan Carter at FuelCellToday, about Ene-Farm’s (Japan) world leadership in residential fuel cell deployment. Add to that Japan’s strong commitment to fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen refueling infrastructure, and it is clear where this particular future is being formed. With eyes also on Europe, a powerful business model is developing that can leapfrog slower, less coordinated efforts elsewhere.

For years, Catacel catalysts have repeatedly been proven safe, reliable and durable in hydrogen production applications such as large auxiliary power fuel cells and other high-value, critical fuel processing systems. Now that SSR catalysts are gaining traction with commercial-scale hydrogen production, plant operators are understandably interested in how SSR differs from ceramic pellet catalysts and whether the differentiation results in a technology they can trust in their expensive and essential hydrogen plants. Fortunately, every data point and plant reference points to the answer being an unqualified “yes.”

How can you be sure your plant will operate safely with Catacel catalysts?

• Catacel SSR catalysts are already being used safely in steam methane reformer plants, and the change-outs have gone without glitches.  Old SSR catalysts have been removed easily from reformer tubes after years of operation.
• Catacel SSR media is designed to be a direct substitute for ceramic pellets. They install easily in your existing reformer tubes, with no need for equipment modifications of any kind.
• At present, Catacel personally oversee the change-out and the start-up of each plant to make sure the work is done correctly. As SSR becomes more widely adopted, we plan to train and license reactor service companies to do the work safely.
• We can make your plant safer by allowing the reformer itself to operate at lower temperatures and without causing bridging or hotspots in tubes that can rupture.
• SSR catalysts require no initial pressure balancing and they perform consistently over the life of the plant. Unlike ceramic catalysts, they do not fracture over time or require increasing process parameters to maintain target output.

We will continue to share news that will provide further reassurance about the value and safety of Catacel catalysts in steam methane reformers. So even if you are still unconvinced, this is a great time to start a discussion with us. Contact us to find out how much plant expense you can save by switching to SSR catalysts.

Catacel Corp. will display its compact, heat-exchanging catalyst technology at two upcoming major world energy forums.

• Catacel Sales Director Don Lensner and Japan agent Kensaku Gondai will exhibit at FCExpo, a major fuel cell and advanced energy event in Tokyo Feb. 25-28.
• The following week, Lensner will be joined by Catacel CEO Gary McDaniel at Nitrogen+Syngas in Berlin.

At each event, Catacel will display and discuss its thin foil substrate technology and its various applications in fuel reforming, syngas production, gas separation and tailgas combustion reactions.  Catacel materials are specified in these reactions because they conduct reactions:

• In less space
• With less fuel consumed
• At lower reactor temperatures than the typical catalyst-infused ceramic media they replace.

This offers plant designers the ability to develop designs with a smaller footprint, and plant operators to operate their reactors cooler, at less expense and with longer life cycles for their catalyst charges, reformer tubes and furnace components.

Catacel’s Stackable Structural Reactor (SSR®) is achieving high levels of interest from operators of steam methane reforming plants. SSR is demonstrating reductions in fuel consumed by the reformer of up to 30 percent and reductions in reformer temperatures in excess of 50°C compared to ceramic pellets at identical plant rates. Catacel SSR directly replaces ceramic pellets without any change to plant equipment or operating regimes, and fuel savings in larger reformers can run to many hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. In typical box reformers, Catacel SSR can pay for itself in fuel savings alone in less than two years.

For more information, contact us at info@catacel.com.

Catacel’s SSR steam methane reforming catalysts are designed to work in your existing reformer tubes with no modifications. Hydrogen production plant operators that have loaded SSR into their reformer tubes have seen drastic reductions in combustion fuel consumption, beginning with the first day in operation. The superior heat transfer properties and reformate flow design imparted by SSR’s metal foil structures allow significant reduction of furnace temperatures, typically by 50 to 70 degrees Celsius, decreasing fuel consumption and reducing the severity of the conditions in which expensive reformer exist.

Getting started

When you contact Catacel for a quote, we will send you a questionnaire to collect the basic information about your reformer, production rates and general operating conditions.

The proposal you receive includes not only price and lead time but also a calculation of your energy savings and ROI payback period. Although most operations will see a return on investment in about two years based on fuel costs alone, you can expect to see additional savings that result from longer component life due to lower operating temperatures. The catalysts also last longer than ceramic pellets, often for the life of the plant, and the foil structures do not fracture and degrade the way ceramic catalysts do.

The installation process

Installing Catacel SSR catalysts is safe, clean and easy. Remove the old ceramic catalysts, clean out the tubes and install the new catalysts. SSR catalysts are manufactured in compact forms that slide right into the reformer tubes. Once the structures are in place, a special tool causes them to expand and conform to the shape of the tube and all of its typical bulges and deformations. Catacel supervises installation by your personnel or your reactor service company and provides the specialty tools. As more and more reformer operators recognize the tremendous benefits of using SSR catalysts, we expect that many service companies will become skilled in doing the installations themselves.

More Reaction Surface Area

Catacel’s thin foil catalyst structures are designed to present up to 2.5 times the reaction surface area of ceramic catalysts.  With so much more catalyst in a given volume, reactors such as reformer tubes can be made shorter or reduced in number, or feedstock throughput can be increased.  Or at normal throughput rates and process conditions, Catacel’s catalysts promise extended activity and useful life.

Better Heat Transfer

Catacel catalysts are designed to transfer heat better than ceramics, and the design also improves gas mixing and contact time with active catalyst sites. As a result, Catacel catalysts require the generation of less external heat to deliver heat into the reaction, reducing fuel consumption and increasing the life of system components.

Durability

Unlike ceramic catalysts, Catacel catalysts offer the ductility of metal foils, and do not crack, crush, bridge or pulverize as the result of loading or thermal expansion and contraction within the reactor. Our catalysts have the potential to last for the useful life of the reactor without ever needing replacement.

Design flexibility

Catacel catalysts are designed to fit in your existing reactors. For hydrogen and syngas reforming, Catacel’s SSR^Ò catalysts are expanded in place at installation to conform to the concentricity variations of older, heat-distorted reformer tubes. Catacel can vary catalyst chemistry and substrate geometry for use in different parts of the reactor to tailor temperature, reaction and pressure drop characteristics.

With all of these benefits, Catacel catalysts really merit your consideration. Contact Catacel at (330) 527-0731to explore what we can do to intensify your reaction processes.