BP and Nova collaborate to commercialise new catalysts

BP and Nova Chemicals are to jointly develop and commercialise Nova Chemicals' Ziegler-Natta (Z-N) catalysts for BP's Innovene gas-phase polyethylene process.

Nova Chemicals has demonstrated its Novacat T Z-N catalyst technology in numerous commercial trials, proving it to be a direct and superior replacement for conventional Z-N catalysts in commercial-scale polyethylene production plants.

This catalyst facilitates the production of polyethylene resins with narrow or broad molecular weight distributions and produces significant increases in reactor throughput with only minimal retrofitting cost.

BP's Innovene technology is used for the manufacture of polyethylene. BP has sold 24 innovene licenses in 16 countries across the world, with a combined manufacturing capacity of more than four million tons of polyethylene a year.

Catalysts developed by the alliance will be available globally for licensing.