Reaxa's new nickel catalyst ready to roll out

Pharma catalyst technologies company Reaxa is currently trialling its most advanced new product - Nickel EnCat.

With nickel accounting for 20% of the pharma hydrogenation catalyst market, the company says that Nickel EnCat represents a promising alternative to current generation Raney/sponge nickel catalysts, which require complex and hazardous processes, are awkward to handle and often limited to single use.

Newly introduced Nickel EnCat is a non-pyrophoric and reusable hydrogenation catalyst that has been successful in lab trials and is currently undergoing beta test trials in Europe, North America, India and Japan. The first commercial projects have been identified, said ceo Dr Pete Jackson, and the product is now available in commercial quantities.

With their potential for reuse, combined with avoidance of purification steps, Reaxa's EnCat catalysts can also dramatically cut process costs, said Jackson. Whereas standard catalysts typically result in over 1,000 parts per million of metal residues in the crude product, EnCat processes can often meet specification - less than 10 ppm - without further purification steps.

Reaxa is now claiming market leadership in scavenging, offering lower cost manufacturing processes in pharma catalysis and the sector's most advanced at-scale clean-up technology platform.

"Cash and cost savings are priorities in the present climate, but the industry can't afford to simply set process innovation aside until things get better," said Jackson. "Sustainable advantage for the longer term will only come from determined development and application at scale of faster, cleaner and less costly production processes."

The company's bulk QuadraPure and QuadraSil scavengers are now available in hundreds of kilos, and production of tonne lots will be on line later this year. "To accelerate delivering cost benefits to our customers, Reaxa is set to establish low-cost production of its leading products with partners in India," Jackson added.