Multipurpose Plant

Flexible catalyst manufacturing at commercial scale, in De Meern.

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The IQatalyst Multipurpose Plant (MPP) is a fully equipped catalyst manufacturing facility built for flexibility. Six core unit operations — precipitation, extrusion, tableting, impregnation, calcination and reduction — can be combined into whichever process train your product requires. There is no fixed line and no single product. The plant is configured around what you need to make.

The MPP sits on our De Meern site alongside our proprietary production plants and our R&D laboratories, which means a catalyst can move from a few kilograms in the pilot plant to multi-hundred-tonne commercial batches without leaving the site — or changing hands.

A manufacturing asset base built for variety

Most catalyst plants are designed around one product family and struggle with anything else. The MPP was designed the other way round. Its equipment is deliberately non-dedicated, so the same asset base handles supported metal catalysts, shaped supports, precipitated precursors and impregnated materials without compromise.

Configurable process trains

Unit operations can be connected in multiple sequences, allowing a wide range of manufacturing routes on a single asset base.

All common shapes

Extrudates, tablets, powders and droplets are all within scope.

Broad metals capability

Whereas nickel, cobalt, copper and precious metals are well established on these assets, there is ample experience with many more elements.

Catalyst supports

All common supports such as silica, alumina, titania, etc., are within scope, as raw materials or as final shaped products.

Commercial-scale capacity

Batch sizes from four to five tonnes per run, with significant annual throughput across each unit operation.

State-of-the-art, well-maintained assets

The plant has been kept to operational standard and is supported by our full site engineering and maintenance organisation.

R&D on the same site

Our development laboratories and pilot plant sit metres from the production floor, not in another country.

Six core unit operations

Each of the operations below can be used as a stand-alone tolling service or combined into a complete manufacturing route. Capacities and achievable throughput in practice depends on your product mix and campaign structure.

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Precipitation vessel and washing belt at the IQatalyst Multipurpose Plant, De Meern.

Precipitation, washing and drying

Precipitation is one of the starting point for a large share of supported metal catalysts. Our precipitation line covers the full sequence — controlled precipitation, washing to remove residual salts, and drying — producing a precursor ready for shaping or calcination.

Specifications:
Process scope: Precipitation, washing, drying

Typical applications:

Supported metal precursors such as nickel, cobalt, copper etc.
Precursor material for powder catalysts or downstream extrusion, tableting or calcination

Catalyst extrusion equipment at the IQatalyst Multipurpose Plant.

Extrusion and drying

Our four-inch extruder forms supports and catalyst precursors into extrudates, followed by controlled drying. Extrusion is a frequently requested operations in catalyst manufacturing, both as part of a full manufacturing route and as a stand-alone tolling step for customers who have material to shape but no available capacity of their own.

Specifications:
Equipment: 4″ extruder
Process scope: Extrusion, drying

Typical applications:

Alumina supports
Silica supports
Precipitated nickel catalysts

Tableting

In case your application requires tableted shapes rather than an extrudate, our tableting machines produce uniform, mechanically robust shapes from precipitated, calcined or supplied powder feedstock.

Specifications:
Process scope: Tableting of powder feedstock

Typical applications:

Alumina tablets
Silica tablets
Zinc oxide tablets
Precipitated and calcined catalyst materials

Vacuum impregnation vessels at the IQatalyst Multipurpose Plant.

Vacuum impregnation and drying

Our Pfaudler vacuum impregnation units deposit metal salts or metal complexes onto pre-shaped supports, followed by controlled drying. Vacuum impregnation gives homogeneous and reproducible metal loading —two key factorsfor catalyst performance.

Specifications:
Equipment: Vacuum impregnation and drying units
Metals: Nickel, cobalt, copper, precious metals

Typical applications:

Impregnation of metal salts or metal complexes onto a pre-shaped support
Nickel, cobalt and copper catalyst systems
Precious metal catalyst systems

Rotary calciner at the IQatalyst Multipurpose Plant, De Meern.

Rotary calcination

Our rotary calciners operate up to 950 °C with continuous throughput, converting dried precursors and impregnated materials into their finished oxide or activated form. Since off-gas treatment is often required, scrubbing, De-NOx and VOC treatment is available within the plant’s own abatement system.

Specifications:
Equipment: Rotary calciners
Maximum temperature: 950 °C
Throughput: 100–200 kg per hour
Emissions control: Scrubber and catalytic converter for NOx handling

Typical applications:

Extrudate, spherical and tablet
Alumina, silica supports
Impregnated and dried catalyst precursor materials and ceramics

Reduction tower at the IQatalyst Multipurpose Plant.

Fixed-bed reduction and passivation

Our reduction tower carries out fixed-bed reduction which may be followed by controlled passivation, delivering activated catalyst that is stable and safe to handle, transport and load. This is a capability only few toll manufacturers offer at commercial scale. IQatalyst has unique knowhow on this process which often defines the final catalyst performance and ease of start up.

Specifications:
Process scope: Fixed-bed reduction, controlled passivation

Typical applications:

Shaped base metal catalysts
Shaped precious metal catalysts

From kilograms to commercial scale, on one site

Access to equipment is only half of what a manufacturing partner needs. The MPP is supported by the IQatalyst R&D organisation in De Meern: a fully equipped catalyst development laboratory, analytical and high-pressure testing facilities, and a pilot plant dedicated to scale-up.

That combination lets us take a catalyst from laboratory quantities through pilot production to full commercial batches in a single, continuous programme. Formulation issues that only appear at scale are identified and resolved by the same team that will run the production campaign, rather than being handed across an organisational boundary.

Our development team brings deep experience in supported catalyst systems, (specialty) hydrogenations and oleochemical applications, and we maintain active working relationships with universities and knowledge institutes.

Toll manufacturing and custom catalyst production

The MPP supports two distinct commercial models. Both are available under long-term agreements with full confidentiality protection.

Toll manufacturing

Use our assets to produce your existing commercial catalyst. Customers typically come to us when they need capacity they do not have in-house, when they want to improve the efficiency of an existing production route, or when a campaign would otherwise displace higher-value production on their own plant.

We also manufacture first commercial quantities of newly developed catalysts, allowing you to supply the market without interrupting your in-house production schedule.

Custom catalyst manufacturing

We manufacture catalysts to your specification, with the intellectual property remaining entirely yours. Custom catalyst production is carried out on an exclusive basis: the formulation, the process route and the resulting product stay with you. Your (labscale) recipe is developed into a viable commercial manufacturing route. Whereas your recipe will ideally fit our excisting assets, we have also designed dedicasted manufacturing lines should your recipe require that.

This is an established model at IQatalyst — one of our dedicated custom catalyst production lines has been in operation since 2006, and we have long-standing relationships with customers who rely on it.

Talk to us about a manufacturing agreement

A site with 130 years of chemical manufacturing behind it

The MPP is part of the IQatalyst site in De Meern, near Utrecht — a 4.1-hectare chemical manufacturing location with roots going back to the founding of Van der Hoorn in Utrecht in 1893, and continuous catalyst production since 1962. Under successive ownership by Harshaw, Engelhard and BASF, the site built the asset base and the manufacturing know-how that IQatalyst operates today as an independent company.

Site facts:

Approximately 150 employees across operations, maintenance and engineering, logistics, quality control, quality management, EHS, R&D, customer service, sales and procurement
24/7 operation on a five-shift system
Three production plants, including the MPP
On-site quality control and R&D laboratories
Site area of 4.1 hectares
Fully operational stand-alone company