Howard Industries expands its catalyst processing services

Howard Industries, based in Columbus, Ohio, has completed a multi-million dollar expansion of its catalyst processing services to enable it to provide catalyst developers with scale-up services, chemical manufacturers with spent catalyst reprocessing and catalyst manufacturers with speciality and intermediate volume production.

Its facilities include a new 35ft long, 36in diameter rotary calciner with temperatures ranges up to 1600°F and a large pellet mill processing facility to make a wide range of pellet sizes.

The company is also adding a development lab to explore the production and materials possibilities using 'controlled cavitation reactions' technology (CCT) to produce new catalyst materials and enhance the production and catalytic properties of existing materials. The iMAT Materials Production System is licensed from Five Star Technologies, of Cleveland, Ohio, and is particularly suitable for the development and manufacture of nanomaterials, APIs and other higher purity, smaller particulate materials.

According to Rich Cree, vp, business development, the goal of this scalable technology is to reduce the time to market. 'This technology could transform the catalyst materials business by creating a whole range of materials and material properties.' he said.