| Operations
Johnson Matthey has operations in over 30 countries and employs around 7,800 people. In the 2006/07 financial year Johnson Matthey’s operations were organised into four global divisions: Catalysts, Precious Metal Products, Pharmaceutical Materials and Ceramics. The sale of Ceramics Division was completed on 28th February 2007.
Catalysts Division
Description of the Business
Catalysts Division consists of three global businesses:
Environmental Catalysts and Technologies (ECT)
ECT comprises Johnson Matthey’s global autocatalyst, heavy duty diesel and stationary source emissions control businesses. We are a world leading manufacturer of catalysts for vehicle exhaust emission control and a leader in catalyst systems for the reduction of volatile organic compound emissions from industrial processes. Manufacturing takes place in the USA, UK, Belgium, Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, Japan, Malaysia, India and China. R&D facilities are in the USA, UK, Sweden, Japan and Brazil.
Process Catalysts and Technologies (PCT)
PCT manufactures base and precious metal process catalysts, fine chemicals and electrochemical products. Manufacturing facilities are in the UK, USA, Germany, India and China. The Davy Process Technology business develops chemical process technologies and licenses them to customers in the oil, gas and petrochemical industries. Our Research Chemicals business is based in the USA and UK.
Fuel Cells
Johnson Matthey is the world leader in catalysts and catalysed components for fuel cells.
Figure 1
HDD On Road Regulation Development | | | |  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Figure 2
HDD On Road Regulation Development | | | | | | | | | | | | | | New models | | All models | | | | | |
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| | | | Europe | Euro IV | 01 Oct 05 | | 01 Oct 06 | | | | | Euro V | 01 Oct 08 | | 01 Oct 09 | | | | | | | | | | | | United States | US2007 | 01 Jan 07 | | 01 Jan 07 | | | | | US2010 | 01 Jan 10 | | 01 Jan 10 | | | | | | | | | | | | Japan | Short Term | | | | | | | | 2.5 - 12 tonnes | 01 Oct 03 | | 01 Oct 03 | | | | | 12 tonnes+ | 01 Oct 04 | | 01 Oct 04 | | | | | | | | | | | | | New Long Term | | | | | | | | 2.5 tonnes+ | 01 Oct 05 | | 01 Oct 05 | | | | | | | | | | | | | Diesel 09 | | | | | | | | 2.5 tonnes+ | 31 Dec 09 | | 31 Dec 09 | | | | | | | | | | | | China | Beijing - Euro IV |  2008 | | | | | Rest of country - Euro IV | 2010 | | | | | | | | | | | | India | Major cities | 2010 (or earlier?) | | | | | | | | | | | | South Korea | Euro IV | 01 Jan 06 | | 01 Jan 08 | | | | | | | | | | | | Brazil | Euro IV | 2009 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Performance in 2006/07
Catalysts Division’s sales rose by 48% to £2,193 million, partly as a result of significantly higher prices for platinum, palladium and rhodium. Excluding the value of precious metals, sales rose by 32% to £1,036 million. This increase was driven by good volume growth and the impact of higher material costs, such as the costs of substrates for catalysed soot filters, which are a pass through for Johnson Matthey.
The division’s operating profit increased by 11% to £148.8 million, with both Environmental Catalysts and Technologies and Process Catalysts and Technologies performing well. The results were adversely affected by exchange translation. At last year’s rates sales excluding precious metals would have increased by 35% and operating profit would be 14% up.
Environmental Catalysts and Technologies
Environmental Catalysts and Technologies was well ahead of last year with good growth in Europe, particularly for diesel oxidation catalysts and CSFs, increasing autocatalyst sales in Asia and a welcome upturn in our North American business with the introduction of products to meet new HDD legislation.
In Johnson Matthey’s financial year to 31st March 2007 global light duty vehicle sales increased by 2.8% to 66.3 million. Car production rose by 3.1% with a small overall increase in inventories. Most of the growth in production again came in Asia, which was 9.5% up on last year. Within Asia, sales grew 21% in China and 23% in India. Total European sales were 3.4% up, with all the growth coming in Eastern Europe (16%). Sales in Russia, where Johnson Matthey is constructing a new plant, increased 30% during the year. In North America light vehicle sales were 2.0% down and domestic production fell by 6.3% as imports gained market share.
Estimated Light Vehicle Sales and Production | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Year to 31st March | | | | | | | | | 2007
millions | | 2006
millions | | change
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| | | | North America | Sales | | 19.3 | | 19.7 | | -2.0% | | | | | Production | | 14.9 | | 15.9 | | -6.3% | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Total Europe | Sales | | 21.3 | | 20.6 | | 3.4% | | | | | Production | | 21.1 | | 20.7 | | 1.9% | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Asia | Sales | | 16.4 | | 15.2 | | 7.9% | | | | | Production | | 25.4 | | 23.2 | | 9.5% | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Global | Sales | | 66.3 | | 64.5 | | 2.8% | | | | | Production | | 66.9 | | 64.9 | | 3.1% | | | | | | |
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| | | | Source: Global Insight | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | We continue to see increasing demand from many of the leading car companies in Europe for CSFs to remove particulates from diesel exhaust emissions. Although legislation requiring such emission control devices does not come into full force in Europe until 2010, most car manufacturers are starting to fit these devices much earlier due to public awareness of the environmental and health benefits that they provide. In 2006/07 we completed work on a new factory in Royston, UK to manufacture CSFs and during 2007/08 we will complete an additional facility which will double our capacity. In addition, we have added CSF capacity at our South African facility, which also supplies the European market.
During the year we commenced construction of a new autocatalyst manufacturing facility in the Russian Federation. This plant will produce catalysts to meet demand from both local and global car manufacturers following the introduction of emissions legislation requiring autocatalyst fitment in Russia in the spring of 2006.
Our business in Asia continues to perform very well. Over the next decade we expect that most of the growth in world car production will take place in the Asian region. In 2006/07 we have achieved strong volume growth in China and Japan and our operations in India and Malaysia also continued to perform well. During the year we again expanded our autocatalyst manufacturing facility in Japan in order to serve growing demand for our products from Japanese car companies. Further expansion is planned for the coming year.
Our new plant in South Korea (our fifth in the Asian region) is nearing completion and will begin production during 2007/08. This new plant will manufacture catalysts for both diesel and petrol powered vehicles and will carry out research and development activities to support the rapidly growing Korean motor industry.
The market for HDD catalysts for new vehicles grew rapidly in the second half of the year. New emission control standards for HDD vehicles came into force in October 2006 for all new vehicles sold in Europe. In the United States similar legislation came into force at the beginning of January 2007. Johnson Matthey has a leading market share of both these new markets. A major expansion programme was completed in the year at our facility near Philadelphia, USA to provide capacity to meet demand for catalysts for both heavy duty diesel vehicles and diesel powered pick ups, which are also affected by this legislation.
Johnson Matthey’s sales, excluding precious metals, of HDD catalysts to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) increased to £46 million in the second half of 2006/07 from £7 million in the first half. Sales in the US, as expected, started slowly as truck sales were impacted by pre-buying of trucks ahead of the legislation. In 2007/08 we expect to see further rapid growth in our sales of HDD catalysts as the legislation in Europe and the US will apply for the whole of the year and as US truck sales return to more normal levels over the course of the year.
Our HDD business in Asia continues to make good progress, gaining share of the OEM market in Japan and achieving good sales into the large retrofit programme underway in Seoul, South Korea. Both China and India are major manufacturers of trucks and similar emission control legislation to Europe and the US is expected to be introduced in those two countries by 2010. HDD emissions legislation in Europe, the US and Japan will tighten significantly in 2009 and 2010 which will require more sophisticated catalyst systems to meet the standards.
On road HDD emissions legislation will undoubtedly continue to tighten beyond 2010. In addition there is also legislation in place in the European Union and the United States that will take effect from 2011 requiring off road or ‘non road’ vehicles such as construction, mining and agricultural equipment to meet the same tight emissions standards. Although average engine sizes are smaller than those for on road HDD vehicles, this is a significant additional new opportunity for Johnson Matthey and will have similar technology requirements.
Process Catalysts and Technologies
Process Catalysts and Technologies also achieved good growth in sales and profits in 2006/07. The Ammonia, Methanol, Oil and Gas (AMOG) business was well ahead of last year with continued strong demand for catalysts and purification materials for industries where hydrogen or synthesis gas are key intermediates. Demand from methanol producers was particularly good in 2006/07. Sales of edible oil catalysts were also ahead of last year but catalyst sales to the polymer market declined.
Davy Process Technology (DPT), which we acquired in February 2006, had an excellent year concluding several major contracts. The acquisition of DPT has provided Johnson Matthey with additional opportunities to grow sales of catalysts into new technology developments. DPT develops and licenses chemical process technologies and is benefiting from growth in China as well as high energy prices which have increased demand for new chemical processes. A good example of this is the announcement in February 2007 that the AMOG business and DPT had entered into contracts for a methanol technology licence, basic engineering design package and methanol synthesis catalyst supply for a new 1.8 million tonne per year methanol project for Baotou Shenhua Coal Chemicals. This project is a coal to olefin plant being constructed in Baotou City in Inner Mongolia. Methanol will be produced from locally mined coal using advanced methanol synthesis technology and catalysts supplied by Johnson Matthey. The methanol will then be further converted to olefins via methanol to olefins (MTO) technology.
Tracerco, PCT’s oil services business, also achieved good growth in the year benefiting from record demand for its specialist diagnostics services and equipment from production platforms and refineries. In April 2006, Tracerco acquired the process diagnostics business of Quest TruTec which has expanded Tracerco’s market coverage, particularly in the USA.
PCT’s fine chemicals and related catalysts businesses performed well in the year. Demand for precious metal chemicals was strong and sales of homogeneous and Sponge Nickel™ catalysts showed good growth. Research Chemicals benefited from a good contribution from its new joint venture in China and sales in Europe were strong stimulated by the launch of the new catalogue. Projects are now underway to expand the business’ warehousing and distribution facilities in India.
Fuel Cells
Our Fuel Cells business achieved strong growth in sales, from a small base, with significantly increased orders for membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). Most of these sales were for portable fuel cells which are sold to European consumers as companies manufacturing and marketing portable power supplies achieved sustained commercial sales. There continues to be considerable potential in consumer electronics applications where DMFCs have cost and performance advantages over batteries. Johnson Matthey’s longstanding R&D in this area has put us in a very good position to serve the many companies in this sector that are now actively developing prototypes and carrying out product trials around the world.
Other sectors where fuel cells have applications, such as automotive and local power generation, have benefited from growing interest in low carbon and low emission technologies. Car companies have reaffirmed their ambitions for fuel cell vehicles and cities such as London have committed to further purchases of fuel cell buses. Johnson Matthey introduced new MEA products in 2006/07 that significantly improve the durability and cost of fuel cells used in the very demanding transport sector. While commercial sales to this sector remain some way off, the substantial progress over the last year is an encouraging step towards the realisation of this very large potential market for our fuel cell products.
Our Swindon facility provides our Fuel Cells business with a stable, high quality product development and manufacturing capability that is very important for our customers’ long term ambitions and differentiates us from other catalyst and MEA suppliers. The annual cost of our Fuel Cells business fell by £0.8 million to £7.3 million.
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Precious Metal Products Division
Description of the Business
Precious Metal Products Division is organised into three groups; Platinum, Colour Technologies and Gold and Silver and incorporates Johnson Matthey’s precious metals marketing, fabrication and refining activities as well as its business manufacturing functional and decorative coatings for glass and ceramics.
Platinum
Consists of our worldwide platinum marketing and fabrication activities. Marketing is headquartered in Royston, UK with support facilities in Philadelphia and Hong Kong. We are the world’s leading distributor of platinum group metals (pgms) and the sole marketing agent for Anglo Platinum, the world’s largest producer of platinum. Our platinum fabrication business makes a wide range of platinum group metal products primarily in the UK and USA. Our Pgm Refining business recovers pgms from spent catalysts and other secondary materials and refines primary pgms from global mining operations. It has refining facilities in the UK and USA.
Colour Technologies
Headquartered in the Netherlands, our Colour Technologies business manufactures black obscuration enamels and silver conductive materials for automotive glass. It also makes colours, enamels and decorative precious metal products for other glass applications such as bottles and architectural glass as well as for tableware and other ceramic applications.
Gold and Silver
Comprises our gold and silver refining and bullion manufacturing operations. Johnson Matthey is a market leader in the refining of gold and silver. The business serves the world’s mining industries and recycles secondary scrap material. We are also a leading manufacturer of high purity small gold bars for investment and jewellery manufacture. Gold and silver refining operations are located in the USA and Canada.
Performance in 2006/07
Precious Metal Products Division’s sales increased by 29% to £3,824 million, boosted by higher prices for pgms. In sterling terms the average price of platinum rose by 18%. Prices of the minor metals (rhodium, iridium and ruthenium) increased dramatically. Operating profit (before last year’s impairment costs) rose by 37% to £85.3 million. At last year’s exchange rates operating profit would have been 40% higher. Both the marketing and distribution business and the manufacturing businesses achieved strong growth in the year.
Platinum
The price of platinum was extremely volatile in 2006/07. With the physical market tightly balanced, speculative interest and the volatility in other commodities such as oil had a significant impact on the price. Platinum peaked at a new all time high of $1,390/oz in November and was subject to a broadly upward trend throughout the year. The average price for the year was $1,185/oz, a 26% increase on 2005/06 (18% in sterling terms). | | | | | | | |  | | | |  | | | | | | | | Total consumption of platinum increased once more in 2006/07, a pattern unbroken since 1992. Demand for platinum in autocatalysts increased by 11% with much of the growth generated in Europe, where diesel vehicles accounted for more than 50% of light duty vehicle registrations. The fitting of catalysed soot filters to diesel vehicles and the emissions control equipment fitted to heavy duty diesel vehicles made a substantial contribution to platinum demand. However, demand from jewellery manufacturers fell again as the rising price of platinum encouraged de-stocking and recycling of old jewellery.
Supplies of platinum increased in 2006/07, with new mines coming on stream and the largest producer Anglo Platinum having a good year after unexpected problems in 2005. Overall, the platinum market was close to balance in 2006/07, which, following several years of deficits, ensured the price remained firm.
The palladium price reached its peak for 2006/07 in May, touching $398/oz. Supply and demand fundamentals continued to be largely incidental as hedge funds and institutional investors extended already substantial long positions in the market. With their significant and consistent support, the average price for the year was $336/oz, an increase of 47% on 2005/06.
Physical demand for palladium decreased in 2006/07. Autocatalyst demand increased due to higher gasoline vehicle production outside Europe, whereas demand from Chinese jewellery manufacturers fell significantly after pipeline filling in the previous year. Palladium supplies were lower than in 2005/06 due to a reduction in Russian sales but did little to alter the substantial surplus of supply over demand.
The price of rhodium rose sharply in 2006/07, touching a peak of $6,275/oz in May. The average price doubled for a second successive year to reach $5,166/oz. Strong demand from the automotive and glass fabrication industries coupled with speculative interest left little metal to be offered in the spot market, in spite of modestly increased supply. This sustained pressure on a market which was already tight and illiquid inevitably caused the price to rise sharply.
The past year has been notable for the dramatic increase in the price of ruthenium, which rose from $160/oz to reach $870/oz before easing to $700/oz by the end of our financial year. The price increase was attributable to a surge in demand from the electronics industry for the coating of a new generation of hard disk memory storage. Limited physical availability of metal to meet this demand and speculative buying resulted in a classic market spike.
Profits from the division’s marketing and distribution operations were substantially higher than in 2005/06, benefiting from good growth in demand and higher pgm prices. The results in the second half of the year also benefited from some trading profits on the minor metals. Although we do not expect these trading profits to be repeated at the same level in 2007/08, market conditions remain favourable and we would expect the business to achieve further growth in profits in the current year if market conditions remain the same.
The division’s metal fabrication businesses achieved good growth in 2006/07. To meet growth in our market share of core pgm products we increased the capacity of our facility at West Chester, USA. This expansion successfully came on stream during the year. The market for catalysts used in the abatement of nitrous oxide, a powerful greenhouse gas produced as a by product in the manufacture of nitric acid, is starting to develop. We have excellent products in this area and the contracts currently being finalised will generate a new revenue stream in the coming years. Our medical products business located at three sites in California had another good year with strong growth in nitinol products and components for the cardiovascular sector.
Pgm Refining maintained its good progress, benefiting from higher pgm prices which stimulated the flow of secondary materials for refining, especially autocatalyst scrap. The business continues to focus on capacity management and process improvement. As a result it was successful in making further reductions in the quantity of precious metals held in the refining circuits. At the same time new processes were introduced to meet customer requirements, such as increased capacity for ruthenium refining to meet growing demand from the electronics sector.
Colour Technologies
Colour Technologies achieved further good growth in operating profit, with our products for automotive glass proving very successful. In this sector we continue to invest heavily in product development to meet the increasingly stringent requirements of our customers for improved enamels and conductive inks. In the tableware sector we continue our successful strategy of focusing on a reduced range of higher technology products. In line with this we announced the closure of our decorative precious metal products plant in Royston, UK and transfer of the activities to our larger plant in Maastricht, the Netherlands. This transfer will be completed in 2007/08.
Gold and Silver
The division’s gold and silver business also enjoyed a good year, boosted by very strong metal prices which stimulated good flows of secondary materials. Our North American operations at Salt Lake City and Toronto were successful in growing operating profit whilst reducing the amount of metal tied up in processes. At the end of March 2007 we agreed to sell our small Hong Kong gold and silver refining business to Metalor Technologies (Hong Kong) Limited, part of the Metalor Group. This sale was completed on 4th May 2007. Net proceeds are expected to be £0.4 million.
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Pharmaceutical Materials Division
Description of the Business
Pharmaceutical Materials Division is a global, integrated supplier of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), which provides services to pharmaceutical companies through all the stages of development and commercial manufacture of a pharmaceutical product.
The division’s Macfarlan Smith (UK) and West Deptford (USA) businesses provide a full range of commercial scale manufacturing services for APIs to both generic and branded pharmaceutical companies. Both businesses specialise in the manufacture of low to medium volume, high value products, especially controlled drugs.
Pharma Services (USA) provides contract research and development and manufacturing services to pharmaceutical companies from pre-clinical through to commercial launch. It also manufactures other low volume APIs for the commercial market.
The Pharmaceutical Materials Ireland business specialises in the manufacture of prostaglandin APIs, which are very low volume, high value, chemically complex molecules.
Performance in 2006/07
Pharmaceutical Materials Division’s sales rose by 1% to £135 million. Operating profit was up 5% at £35.5 million. The division’s US businesses showed a good recovery in the year although their reported results were adversely affected by exchange translation as a result of the weaker US dollar. At last year’s exchange rates the division’s sales would have been 3% up and operating profit 7% higher than in 2005/06.
US Operations
The recovery in the division’s US operations reflected increased demand for both APIs and contract research. The business benefited from the purchase by Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc. of ADDERALL®, an immediate release product used in the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, from Shire plc. Johnson Matthey has an exclusive agreement to supply the API to Barr for this product as well as the API used in Barr’s existing generic version. Sales of APIs for generic methylphenidate and several opiate products also showed good growth in the year.
A New Drug Application (NDA) was filed for Satraplatin, a potential new platinum anticancer drug which was discovered by Johnson Matthey, licensed to Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and sub-licensed for development and commercialisation to GPC Biotech. If this drug is successful Johnson Matthey will receive both royalty and manufacturing income from the product.
Pharma Services’ performance improved substantially in 2006/07, with good growth in sales and profits in both the manufacturing and contract chemistry segments. The business also made good progress in expanding its manufacturing base. Several products manufactured by Pharma Services have progressed well in clinical trials and required significant scale-up during the year. Pharma Services continues to use its broad capabilities to support product development for other parts of the division. A number of generic products manufactured for both West Deptford and Ireland were submitted for regulatory approval by our customers during the year.
We expect to see further steady growth in sales of APIs for generic controlled drugs, particularly those used in the treatment of pain which is a growing market, and in platinum based anticancer drugs. There is also the opportunity for additional growth from the launch of new products, such as Satraplatin if it should be approved, and the agreed launch in April 2009 of Barr’s generic version of ADDERALL XR®.
Macfarlan Smith
Sales at Macfarlan Smith, based in Edinburgh, were down on last year. However, operating profit was slightly ahead. The fall in sales resulted from an overall reduction in selling prices for key bulk opiate products which was offset by lower prices for the raw materials used to manufacture these products. Sales of higher margin specialist opiates, particularly oxycodone and buprenorphine, showed good growth offsetting a decline in some non opiate fine chemical products.
The world market for opiate drugs, which are primarily used to treat pain, continues to grow. Use of these products increases as the world’s population ages and people are generally less tolerant of pain, as well as by the introduction of new applications and new dosage forms, particularly for specialist opiates, which enable broader, more controlled use of these medications.
Ireland
The performance of Pharmaceutical Materials Ireland improved in 2006/07 and the business continued to expand its customer and product base. Prostaglandin APIs manufactured by the business have been used by customers in developing new generic products and several are in the process of review for regulatory approval.
[ back to top ] | | | | | | | Research & Development
Research and development underpins Johnson Matthey’s high technology businesses. We maintain a high level of R&D expenditure to ensure the continuous flow of new products and technologies to provide our customers with cost effective solutions to meet legislated and technical requirements. In 2006/07 the continuing operations spent £66.5 million gross on research and development.
Johnson Matthey Technology Centre
The Johnson Matthey Technology Centre (JMTC) is the group’s central resource for longer term research. JMTC’s major facility is located at Sonning Common, UK and supports the research and development of new products and technology across all of Johnson Matthey’s businesses. JMTC also includes a smaller group of scientists based in Billingham, UK which specialises in catalyst manufacturing science. The centres bring together 180 world class scientists with expertise in catalysis, precious metals, materials science and many other disciplines in which Johnson Matthey operates. JMTC has state of the art facilities for the development and testing of catalysts as well as one of the most advanced analytical science groups in the world, equipped with the latest tools for materials characterisation. JMTC’s integrated approach to synthesis, testing and analysis fosters the cross fertilisation of ideas to keep the group at the leading edge of technological advancement.
Collaboration is important from the inception of new projects. JMTC works closely with technology centres and development groups within Johnson Matthey’s global businesses and participates in external collaborative research and development programmes worldwide.
Many projects at JMTC are sponsored by the operating divisions to meet their longer term objectives alongside which run a number of core science projects to address the fundamental science that underpins every technology development. As well as targeting step changes in technological advancement, core science projects focus on sustainability issues such as energy efficiency, metal thrifting and waste reduction. Knowledge gained in the core science programmes is used to accelerate and improve product development across the group, reducing time to market and improving our ability to design products to meet customers’ needs.
A core competence of Johnson Matthey is a fundamental understanding of catalyst science and materials technology. In the section below, three elements of JMTC’s approach to catalyst and materials development are described, followed by a review of R&D activities in our operating divisions.
Core Science Projects
Catalyst Design
With the ever increasing complexity of today’s catalysts, it is imperative to be able to understand and control the interactions between metals that are the basis of the activity, selectivity and promotion of a catalyst. At JMTC we have moved beyond a purely experimental approach to catalyst and materials preparation and are exploiting rational design to optimise performance. Combining sophisticated surface science characterisation techniques with realistic testing and high power computational chemistry our research is directed towards understanding active sites and the other key features of catalyst structures.
Catalysts inevitably change with usage as the material poisons and ages over time. We are therefore engaged in studying the physical processes of catalyst change. With a more fundamental understanding of the restrictions imposed by these physical rules we can design within the limits of what is possible and streamline our research efforts.
Catalyst Engineering
The rational design of catalysts requires an unprecedented degree of synthetic control. In three parallel research programmes we are investigating the latest techniques of catalyst preparation. Whether it is thrifting metals, controlling metal alloy interactions or achieving a homogeneous distribution of metal, we are developing the capability to control the nanoscale structure of metal particles. Complementing more conventional catalysts and materials, these unique products offer us a diverse portfolio of entirely original catalysts for our development and testing programmes.
The focus of this work is on the process as much as the product and using more sophisticated synthetic techniques allows us to simplify catalyst syntheses and economise on energy. With careful precursor design we can phase out the use of toxic and hazardous organic solvents in favour of exclusively aqueous reactions and reduce the production of environmentally harmful emissions such as nitrates and oxides of nitrogen (NOx).
Manufacturing Science
The efficient transition from making a catalyst on a laboratory scale through pilot scale to full commercial manufacture is critical to the development of new products. We need to be able to support our customers’ requirements at every stage and be able to produce representative material which will not change as it is scaled up. It is equally important to understand the sustainability of the manufacturing process to optimise the use of expensive metals, reduce the environmental impact of by products and to produce material which has the potential to be recycled or reused. Our Manufacturing Science Centre at JMTC in Billingham is a centre of excellence for catalyst manufacturing across the group and is constantly involved in new manufacturing projects from many different Johnson Matthey businesses. As well as understanding and resolving issues of scale-up, we invest in research into new process technology to improve the efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of our manufacturing processes and products.
Catalysts Division
New product development in the Environmental Catalysts and Technologies business is driven by ever tightening emissions legislation around the world and we continue to invest in scientists and state of the art equipment for the development and testing of catalysts to meet customers’ needs. Through this investment, Johnson Matthey has become a leader in diesel emission control technologies for both heavy and light duty diesel applications including catalysed soot filter technology for removal of particulate matter from diesel exhausts. We also continue to invest in the development of improved products for the treatment of exhaust from gasoline engines.
Johnson Matthey has invested in ECT’s R&D facilities during the year to meet the demands of planned new emissions regulations around the world. 2007/08 will see the completion of expansions at our Royston, UK and Gothenburg, Sweden facilities and of the R&D centre at our new facility in Korea.
Process Catalysts and Technologies’ key areas of focus for research remain in the hydrocarbon to products and fuels areas and we are engaged in a number of specific projects aimed at process improvement and enhancing catalyst performance. The process technology expertise of Davy Process Technology complements our broad palette of catalyst manufacturing and development tools to provide a very potent mix through which we aim not only to develop improvements to existing chemical processes but also achieve significant world scale step changes in technology. R&D programmes include those focused on improving the design and efficiency of our gas heated reforming technology to offer higher efficiencies in syngas based processes such as gas to liquids and methanol manufacture.
In the fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals areas we also continue to invest in R&D projects directed towards both new product development and process efficiency improvements.
During the year the Fuel Cells business completed a major project on advanced MEAs for automotive applications funded in part by the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and has collaborated with a number of other DTI funded potential UK suppliers. This work has demonstrated significant improvements in the durability of key components at the heart of the MEA, such as the membrane. Using our own composite design, we have achieved a five fold improvement in membrane durability under automotive test cycles and other improvements have reduced the cost of the substrates and catalysts used in MEAs by a factor of five while maintaining or improving performance. Collaboration with new suppliers able to assist our future product development (including many from outside the fuel cell technology industry) will have lasting benefits to the long term competitiveness of our fuel cells business.
Methanol fuelled fuel cells have in the past required much higher loadings of platinum catalyst than their hydrogen fuelled counterparts and during the year we have made significant progress in lowering these loadings without compromising performance. Working with international suppliers has allowed us to offer MEAs for methanol fuelled fuel cells with improved membranes based on hydrocarbons, as well as traditional fluorinated materials.
Precious Metal Products Division
Research and development in the Precious Metal Products Division encompasses a number of different product areas. The division’s pgm fabrication business (Noble Metals) continues to support R&D to optimise catalyst systems for the abatement of nitrous oxide, a powerful greenhouse gas listed under the Kyoto Protocol. We have already established a leading share of this new market and this work will further enhance our position. Our Colour Technologies business continues to focus on the development of more environmentally friendly products for use in colours and stains, and on the invention of superior enamels and conductive materials for the automotive industry. Research in our pgm and gold refining businesses continues to target improved refinery processes to yield shorter lead times and reduced metal holdings.
Pharmaceutical Materials Division
Research and development in the Pharmaceutical Materials Division is directed towards the development of manufacturing processes for APIs to be manufactured and marketed by the division’s business units. Across the division the development of safe and cost effective manufacturing processes and the instrumental and chemical methods for detailed analysis of these products are fundamental technologies for the manufacture of commercial scale products. These technologies are essential to achieve competitive market positions and to obtain regulatory approval for products.
Each of the division’s businesses has developed substantial chemical know-how in their respective market niches and they collaborate closely on new technical challenges. Combined with Johnson Matthey’s core expertise in catalysis, chiral catalysis and organometallic chemistry, the division offers the pharmaceutical marketplace a unique range of R&D capabilities. | | | | | | | | [ back to top ] | | | | | | |
