Issues with formaldehyde in traditional catalyst formulations

With many catalyst formulations, the sites get masked by soot and lube oil. While CO and VOC’s are able to maintain high conversion efficiencies regardless, formaldehyde is more susceptible and cannot hold up as well. Typically, a catalyst cleaning seems to help but, in many cases, this frequent cleaning becomes a burden.

As such, many operators are experiencing less than one year performance for meeting formaldehyde conversion requirements, and at times can only achieve formaldehyde conversion for six months. This causes expensive field servicing and catalyst costs.

Additionally, as more rigorous U.S. emissions standards are likely to be passed, formaldehyde will be included as a regulated constituent on the USEPA list. This means formaldehyde compliance is perhaps more crucial than ever since operators across the country can face fines for non-compliance, as many operators in certain states already do.

Johnson Matthey’s formaldehyde catalyst achieves higher conversions for longer periods of time

Fortunately, trials of the new Johnson Matthey formaldehyde catalyst for lean burn engines have successfully proven to achieve higher conversions, without fail, over a two year period. Field test data and results show that its performance was well sustained above 94% against the requirement of 85%. The testing was performed on a CAT G3516B NG Engine and yielded greater than 95% H₂CO conversion efficiency. Additionally, no chemical cleaning of the catalyst element during the test period was required.

This unique and innovative catalyst formulation was operated for more than 24 months in a real world gas compression application on what was referred to by customers as “bad players” - or engines that have had the most issues - without failing a compliance test. This is more than triple the time of any competitors’ catalysts.

Benefits of working with MurCal partner, Johnson Matthey

Implementation of the JM formaldehyde catalyst means improved performance, reduced operating costs, and guaranteed compliance with tightening regulations.

Interested in learning more about the innovative formulation and how it can help improve your operations? Get in touch with a member of our team here or contact Jack Carroll at jack.carroll@jmusa.com.