Elf Atochem rewards end-users for product innovation

On this page we regularly feature research and technology developments that will bring rewards to tomorrow's process industries, but this month we report on innovations that have already proved a success in their own particular marketplaces. Rewarding its customers behind these successes was the goal of Elf Atochem when it set up the Innov'ATO 2000 awards.

Over 30 end-user innovations were honoured this year, drawn from a wide cross-section of the industries using Atochem's raw materials and technologies - from packaging to telecommunications, construction to automotive, most of manufacturing was represented.

From the process sector, float glass producer Euroglas featured a denitrification plant for cleaning up its process fumes. Based on selective catalytic reduction (SCR), the DeNOx denitrification process reduces NOx emissions to nitrogen and water by the addition of an ammonia solution over a titanium-vanadium catalyst.

Produced from synthetic ammonia and high resistivity demineralised water, the ammonia solution is supplied by the Elf Atochem fertiliser subsidiary Grande Paroisse, which is also currently developing catalysts for N2O reduction at high temperatures.

Euroglas's denitrification plant, the first of its kind in the glass industry, is in Alsace where local emission standards are four times stricter than French national standards.

Journalists and Atochem's customers and staff attending the Innov'ATO event were also invited to vote for their particular favourites. The journalists opted for Arjo Wiggins' Integral greaseproof paper for packaging materials such as dry pet food and greasy food products. Customers much preferred a novel use of Ecomare tubing made from Atochem's Lacqtene high density polyethylene. These tubes provide cosy homes for growing oysters and mussels - the latter preferring to attach themselves to the outside of the tubes, while the young oysters go for a quieter life inside.