Environmental Performance Drives Chemical Innovation

Linde, the specialty gas supplier, has won the ICIS Innovation Awards 2019 for its Dryref syngas process which combines a new catalyst with an innovative process to redefine what’s possible in steam reforming.

ICIS Chemical Business Deputy Editor, Will Beacham, who chaired the award judging panel said, “Finding the right balance between profitability, energy efficiency and cutting CO2 emissions is a challenging task in process development. Linde and BASF have collaborated to push the boundaries of chemistry to propose a ground-breaking new catalyst and steam-reforming process with higher efficiency, lower energy demand and a lower CO2 footprint.

“The judges were also impressed by the teamwork involved in a joint entry and were pleased to be able to give the award to a new process which could have a significant impact on the global chemical industry and CO2 emissions.”

Linde’s new Dryref process is the result of successful collaboration. It was developed with academic partners Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Technical University of Munich, University of Leipzig and DECHEMA Institute. The process uses a new catalyst developed by BASF, Synspire, which “offers a cost-effective CO2 footprint improvement with global impact,” according to Just Jansz, founder and managing director of business and technology consultancy Expertise Beyond Borders.

“With recycling and sustainability top of many agendas in 2019 it is not surprising that all of this year’s ICIS Innovation Awards winners have created products and processes that reduce the environmental footprint in some way,” added Beacham.

SOURCE ICIS