International. The chemical company Lanxess recently highlighted the 100th anniversary of the "Catalyst Laboratory" that was founded in the city of Leverkusen, Germany, where the Chempark is located today.
The company explained that at the time, the scope of activities was described as "work on catalytic reactions involving organic substances." This laboratory now belongs to Lanxess and functions as a competence center between divisions for catalysts and their applications.
On the occasion of the anniversary ceremony held at Lanxess in Leverkusen on 17 December 2018, Dr Dirk Müller, Head of the Global Technology and Innovation team within the Production, Technology, Safety and Environment Group function, highlighted the importance of the catalyst for the chemical industry: "Experts estimate that between 80 and 90 percent of all current industrial chemical synthesis routes contain minus a catalyzed reaction step. Catalysts ensure that the desired products are formed in soft conditions, safely, selectively and with high yields. Catalysis is therefore a key factor for energy and resource efficiency. It makes a decisive contribution to sustainability and profitability."
A catalyzed chemical reaction is characterized by increased reactivity and/or selectivity. The catalyst emerges from the reaction unchanged, that is, it is not consumed by itself. Industrial catalytic reactions are inspired by metabolic processes in all living organisms that take place under the influence of enzymes.
From the laboratory to the production scale
The catalyst laboratory owes its foundation to the growing industrial importance of heterogeneous catalytic reactions in which the catalyst and reaction substrates are present in different phases, e.g. Solid/liquid and solid/gas systems. According to a historical report, interest was initially focused on "catalytic oxidations, reductions, hydrogenations, dehydrogenations, exchange and addition reactions."
For many decades, the laboratory, together with the catalyst production plant, made important contributions to the development of highly productive catalytic processes. Here many new and improved catalysts were invented, manufactured and developed. Numerous operating instructions, recipes and patents bear witness to this.
Even today, catalyst laboratory employees play an important role in ensuring that heterogeneous catalytic processes are executed as efficiently as possible in many production areas at Lanxess. To do this, they develop, optimize and characterize catalysts for new and existing processes and advise users on their acquisition and on the selection and instruction of the appropriate manufacturers. If necessary, they also accompany the production process.
