BP and Imperial unveil catalyst
15 Jan 2000
A family of catalysts which combine the advantages of metallocenes with a much broader versatility has been discovered by researchers from Imperial College London and BP Chemicals. The catalysts could 'radically change' the range of products available from olefin polymerisation, claims the company.
The catalysts are based on iron and cobalt complexes, says the company. The complexes are cheap, but the catalysts are extremely active and 'have the potential for a wide range of applications from oligomers to high molecular-weight polymers,' says BP.
According to Bill Tallis, BPChemicals technology director, the catalyst is being treated as 'breakthrough technology' within BP. 'The new catalyst family shares many of the advantages of the metallocene catalysts in terms of activity and control of polymer properties and, in addition, offers the potential for producing a much broader range of polymeric materials at low cost,' he says. 'Our work on the new catalyst family complements the work we have done on metallocenes, and our metallocene research and development programme will continue.'
The Imperial College team, led by Professor Vernon Gibson, has been working with BP since 1986. For the past two years, the college and the company have worked under a technology alliance agreement. Gibson will present the team's research at the Royal Society of Chemistry's annual national congress meeting, later this month in Durham.
