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Research and Development
Investment in research and development (R&D) is
a key element of Johnson Matthey’s strategy for growth, enabling
the group to differentiate itself using its world class technology.
As reinforced in the group’s strategy review, R&D investment
is vital to maintaining expertise and leadership in the fundamental
science of catalysis, materials chemistry and platinum group metals
(pgms) that underpins the development of new products and manufacturing
processes. In 2010/11 Johnson Matthey spent £109.8 million
gross on R&D.
Over 1,000 employees work in R&D representing
some 11% of the total workforce and include many highly skilled
scientists and engineers. Around 80% of our R&D staff work within
the group’s businesses in dedicated R&D and technical
centres around the world. At business and division level, work is
mainly focused on delivery of shorter term business specific projects
or to address particular market developments or customer needs.
Johnson Matthey also has central capability on strategic
R&D working on behalf of all of the group’s businesses.
This group technology centre operates across two sites in the UK
(Sonning Common and Billingham) and employs around 200 people.
R&D Structure
R&D activities in the group technology centre are broadly divided
into four categories; core science, divisional projects, sponsored
university programmes and collaborative external projects. This
combination of internal research and collaboration ensures we have
access to the very latest technology and develop relationships with
leading scientists around the world.
We maintain a close link between the four categories
of our central R&D activities and with the development work
carried out directly by Johnson Matthey’s businesses. This
interaction is key in ensuring the rapid transfer of technology
to support the continued development of new products and services
for our customers.
R&D Core Competence – Control at the
Atomic Scale
Over the years we have developed a core competence in controlling
materials at the atomic scale which gives us the ability to fine
tune their properties in a number of different ways. This expertise
underpins the development of new, better performing products across
all our business activities, be it emission control catalysts for
vehicles or high technology inks for large scale glass printing
applications.
In the simplest sense we can anchor particles to other
materials in a highly dispersed way which makes them very active.
We can apply this technique across a range of our activities to
optimise the use and performance of expensive metals in our catalyst
products. In addition, we have developed techniques to control the
size of these anchored particles and in doing so, can tailor both
their activity and selectivity towards chemical reactions. Our highly
skilled scientists can manipulate these particles further to control
the actual shape of the anchored species. Shapes include cubes,
tetrapods, rods and wires and the preparation of these differing
geometries opens up opportunities to use these materials in new
applications.
The application of molecular modelling techniques
also enables us to design and develop higher performance, more resource
efficient materials. Our modelling work includes studies of ‘core
shell’ catalysts where a core of one metal or alloy is encased
with a layer of different atoms to impart advantageous properties
or minimise the use of expensive materials. We have put modelling
theory into practice and have synthesised a range of core shell
systems where, through careful choice of the core particles, it
is actually possible to improve the activity of the shell particles
to give higher efficiency than using either particle type on its
own. Core shell technology is of particular interest to Johnson
Matthey in our efforts to maximise the activity of pgm species whilst
using a minimum amount of these valuable metals. It finds application
in a number of Johnson Matthey’s business activities including
our Fuel Cells business where reducing metal loading and enhancing
activity of our catalysts is key in driving down costs and commercialising
new products.
Science in Action
Our R&D activities provide the foundation for bringing new products
and technologies to market and we have systems in place to expedite
our new product development processes. Below are three examples
of research projects nearing commercialisation.
Sustainable Fuels – Biomass Feedstocks for
Next Generation Biofuels
There is interest globally in the development of fuels produced
from biomass as a sustainable alternative to petrochemical derived
fuels. There are many potential biomass feedstocks and at Johnson
Matthey we are exploring a number of different systems including
waste cellulose from wood processing or agricultural residues, pyrolysis
oil derived from a variety of sources and algae, a high yield, non-food
source. Each feedstock requires very different technologies for
conversion into fuel and all align well with Johnson Matthey’s
core skills. In our work on waste cellulose we are applying our
expertise in syngas purification and conversion whilst conversion
of pyrolysis oil requires us to study processes analogous to those
used in refineries such as purification, deoxygenation, isomerisation
and cracking.
In our work on algae, which are highly efficient producers
of triglycerides, Johnson Matthey is developing multifunctional
catalysts capable of converting triglyceride components into hydrocarbon
fuels. This patented technology creates further options for the
utilisation of bioderived non-food sources for generating fuels.
Gas / Coal to Synthetic Fuels – Development
of Syngas and Fischer Tropsch Technology
There is continued interest in the conversion of coal or natural
gas into synthetic fuels as a route to a clean and secure source
of energy. These gas to liquids (GTL) and coal to liquids (CTL)
technologies represent multi stage catalytic processes which will
operate on both large world scale plants as well as smaller scale
plants using synthesis gas from biomass or methane sources as feedstocks.
Key processes include syngas generation from coal or gas and Fischer
Tropsch synthesis to catalytically convert hydrogen and carbon monoxide
into fuels. The catalysts, reactor designs and process technologies
required align strongly with the underlying science in Johnson Matthey’s
Process Technologies business and we are engaged in a number of
different projects in this field. Our dedicated Manufacturing Science
Centre (MSC) in Billingham, UK provides us with an invaluable scale
up link between laboratory based catalyst research and full scale
production allowing us to optimise our manufacturing processes.
The MSC has been involved with customer projects to develop Fischer
Tropsch catalysts for a variety of scales, reactors and feedstocks,
manufacturing pilot scale quantities for testing at customers’
sites. Optimising catalyst performance and process technology in
combination will be crucial to the commercial viability of large
scale CTL and GTL plants. We are drawing on the synergies between
our catalyst and process technology R&D activities to develop
superior performance solutions for the production of synthetic fuels.
Market Evolution for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells
A combination of modelling, clever preparative chemistry and a deep
understanding of how a fuel cell membrane electrode assembly (MEA)
works in practice has led to the development of more economically
viable systems for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) applications.
Over the last six years the knowledge gained from a series of research
projects focused on dramatically improving the activity of the pgm
component in DMFC systems has enabled significant increases in the
power output per cost of these products. The development of these
more cost efficient solutions has earned Johnson Matthey a leading
position in the supply of MEAs to the global DMFC market.
R&D for Future Growth
Major global drivers provide significant opportunities for Johnson
Matthey to grow and develop its existing business areas over the
next ten years and R&D will play an important role in realising
these opportunities. To support this business development, the group
is increasing its annual investment in R&D by around a third.
In addition, work is also underway to leverage our R&D expertise
to further accelerate growth in a series of new business areas over
the next decade. This initiative aims to develop a major new division
for Johnson Matthey which builds on the company’s established
attributes, areas of expertise and existing commercial interests.
The process to identify, evaluate and develop new business areas
is now underway and we have initially planned to increase our investment
in R&D by up to a further £5 million p.a. in support of
this work.
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