Catalytic Technologies Ltd: titanium based catalysts
Winner of the Emerging Technologies Competition 2014
The manufacture of carbonated soft drinks bottles consumes around 20 million tonnes of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) a year. Almost all of this plastic is made from antimony catalysts, which have low activity, high toxicity, and creates exposure hazards for those who work with it. Start-up company Catalytic Technologies Ltd (CTL) have developed a safer, more active, titanium-based alternative.
Before entering the competition there had been significant industrial interest in their technology, but to really break into the market the company needed to convince everyone along the supply chain to switch from antinomy to titanium-based catalysts. CTL saw entering the competition as an ideal opportunity to raise their profile with potential customers, suppliers and collaborators, and to increase their credibility in the markets they wanted to enter.
Since winning the competition
CTL have continued to grow their business, with supplied catalyst volumes increasing significantly and new customers acquired in North America, South Korea and the Middle East. The market opportunity has now moved beyond niche PET applications and global industry players are performing full commercial trials with their catalyst for PET packaging and bottles. They have recently had approval for their product to be commercialised in 2017 with one of the world’s largest PET manufacturers.
[Winning the competition] has been a real profile raiser. For us – a small company based in the North East of England – it gives us credibility in the market and it really brought our company to the attention of people who otherwise would have been unaware.
Emerging Technologies Competition partner Croda - a global speciality chemicals company -supported CTL after they won. They offered in-depth guidance on REACH regulation, global registration of products, and the purchasing and sourcing raw materials. Croda also gave CTL the chance to present their technology to the wider Croda technical teams which led to early-stage testing of their products.
“Croda have been incredibly supportive and hugely keen to help us…their help with the regulatory side of things has been a big boost to ensuring we are compliant with global regulations, and in 2015 has become particularly relevant for sales of one of our products in South Korea.”
What’s next for CTL
CTL are steadily increasing their market share in the PET catalyst industry and expect to build on this in 2017, focusing on growth in North America. They’re continuing to work with agents, distributors and collaborators around the world to progress the catalyst on commercial scale plants and to support new customers.
Catalytic Technologies Ltd...
two years on
Overseas customers
Commercial trials
Partner relationship
Contact us
- Email:
- Emily Vipond