New ammonia catalyst for sustainable CO₂ reduction

AmoMax™-Casale is the sustainable, award-winning new ammonia synthesis catalyst jointly developed by Clariant and Casale. Thanks to significantly higher activity than previous catalysts, AmoMax-Casale makes ammonia production more efficient and less polluting than ever before.

Producing ammonia (NH₃) creates more carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions than any other chemical synthesis process. That’s why Clariant works relentlessly to enhance its ammonia synthesis catalysts, leading to step changes like the industry proven AmoMax 10, which changed the game of ammonia synthesis from magnetite-based to wustite-based catalysts. Now, there’s a solution that even surpasses the past generation AmoMax.

Born of Clariant’s catalyst expertise and Casale’s ammonia converter design know-how, AmoMax-Casale delivers an up to 30 percent higher efficiency factor, also thanks to a larger active surface area than previous generations of AmoMax. This striking performance surge significantly lowers the energy consumption of an ammonia plant, such leading to a major reduction in CO₂ emissions.

Two Ways AmoMax-Casale Cuts CO₂ Emissions

1. The catalyst’s higher activity allows operation of the ammonia synthesis loop with considerably less pressure. This means the plant consumes less energy to produce ammonia, and hence generates less CO₂ emissions.
2. Higher catalyst activity means higher conversion, so the plant will consume less energy for the recirculation of the process gas in the reactor loop. Again, less CO₂ is emitted.

More Rewarding, Less Polluting
The combination of a higher active catalyst with the Casale design of converter internals makes the difference. This means, a typical ammonia plant producing 1600 tons/day, would save potentially US$ 300,000 annually on energy costs, and reduce CO₂ emissions by up to 85,000 tons over the catalyst’s average lifetime of 15 years. Furthermore, AmoMax-Casale is capable of increasing the ammonia production capacity by up to 5%.

Already Shining in First Commercial Reference
The benefits of AmoMax-Casale are not just theoretical. The catalyst has already proven its great performance in its first industrial reference at an ammonia plant in the Americas. The plant was upgraded to a Casale 3-bed interchanger using the AmoMax-Casale catalyst in late 2019 and is already reporting energy savings of 50,000 kcal/MT, which translates to an expected annual reduction of US$700,000 in costs, and 6.148 tons in CO₂ emissions.

A Celebration of Innovation
While the partners are delighted about their joint achievement, it’s an added bonus to be recognised by respected peers.

That’s why we’re proud to announce that Clariant and Casale have won two awards: The Swiss Chemical Society’s Sandmeyer Award 2021 and this year’s prestigious ICIS Innovation Award for “Process with Best Benefit to the Environment and Sustainability”. Learn more about the ICIS Awards, and read their article about AmoMax-Casale.