Company Information for Oxford Catalysts plc
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Company Statement
Oxford Catalysts designs and develops specialty catalysts for the generation of clean fuels, from both conventional fossil fuels and certain renewable sources such as biomass.
Innovating energy
Our patent-pending intellectual property and technology is the result of 19 years of research at the University of Oxford's prestigious Wolfson Catalysis Centre, headed by company co-founder Professor Malcolm Green, one of the world's most respected inorganic chemists.
Each of our catalysts boasts several of the following key benefits:
- Greater cost effectiveness
- Higher productivity (double in some cases)
- Better selectivity (leading to higher quality output)
- Increased resistance to contaminants
- Longer operational life
Core products include catalysts for the following markets:
- Petro/chemicals: removing sulphur from gasoline/diesel and converting natural gas or coal into ultra-clean liquid fuels
- Fuel Cells: generating hydrogen-on-demand from methanol starting at room temperature or from conventional hydrocarbon fuels by reforming at higher temperatures
- Biogas Conversion: transforming waste methane into the chemical building blocks of liquid fuels
- Portable Steam: creating superheated steam instantaneously from methanol and hydrogen peroxide
Whilst developing alternative energy sources might alleviate many environmental and sustainability concerns, fossil fuels are – and will remain – our principal source of energy for the foreseeable future (even though reserves are declining). Therefore, it is also vital to minimise the detrimental effects of fossil fuels and to make better use of remaining reserves.
Operations and Technology
Catalysts are essential for the production of clean fuels, such as low-sulphur gasoline and hydrogen gas for fuel cells. They are widely used in industry to reduce the cost of producing chemicals.
Why are new catalysts needed?
Many catalysts today are made of expensive precious metals, such as platinum, driving the need for improved, lower cost catalysts, like those developed by Oxford Catalysts.
Our catalysts have the potential to play a central role in the following markets:
Petro/chemicals: removing sulphur from gasoline/diesel and converting natural gas or coal gas into ultra-clean liquid fuels
Hydro-desulphurisation ("HDS")
The Process:
HDS is a the predominant process used for the removal of sulphur from hydrocarbon fuels, which involves treating a fuel with hydrogen gas in the presence of a catalyst.
The Benefits
Testing of our carbide-based HDS catalyst by an oil production company and at the University of Oxford showed that our catalyst outperformed two other commercially available catalysts, producing higher quality fuel with:
- half the final sulphur content remaining
- less destruction of the octane number
- lower processing costs
Fischer-Tropsch ("FT")The Process
The FT reaction is the key step in the process of converting natural gas (mainly methane) or coal into virtually sulphur-free liquid fuels, such as gasoline or diesel (known as GTL and CTL respectively). It uses hydrogen gas and carbon monoxide – known as syngas – to make waxes which are then split into liquid fuels.
The Benefits
Testing of our carbide-based FT catalyst by an oil major and at the University of Oxford showed that in comparison to the leading available industrial catalyst our product had:
- greater cost effectiveness
- double the productivity on a weight-for-weight basis
- higher quality output
- a tolerance to higher levels of water and carbon dioxide, making it particularly well-suited to CTL, where such contaminants are typically found
Fuel Cells: generating hydrogen-on-demand from methanol starting at room temperature or from conventional hydrocarbon fuels by reforming at higher temperatures
The Process
Hydrocarbon fuels can be "reformed" to produce hydrogen gas and carbon monoxide to power fuel cells, but this process requires heat. Oxford Catalysts is the first and only company to be able to reform a fuel instantaneously, starting from room temperature, thereby providing the much-needed practical source of hydrogen gas for portable fuel cells.
The Benefits
Our hydrogen-on-demand technology is ideal for the portable and other mobile fuel cell sectors, because it offers:
- instantaneous hydrogen gas production at ambient temperatures
- high hydrogen density of the fuel mix
- no waste solids or toxic liquids
- simplicity, low weight and low cost
Our high-temperature fuel reforming catalysts also have advantages over existing catalysts, because they:
- are lower cost, since they don't use expensive metals
- have a longer operational life
- demonstrate greater resistance to contaminants
Biogas Conversion: transforming waste methane into the chemical building blocks of liquid fuels
The Process
Oxford Catalysts' co-founder Professor Malcolm Green pioneered the Catalytic Partial Oxidation of methane ("CPOx") into syngas for making liquid fuels. Carbon Trust His co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer Tiancun Xiao won a Carbon Trust Innovation Award with the University of Oxford in 2005 for his work on the application of CPOx to biogas conversion.
The Benefits
Our carbide-based CPOx catalyst, used on its own or in combination with other catalysts for conversion of biogas into syngas, achieves:
- maximal activity (i.e. maximum possible yield)
- lower cost
- longer catalyst life
- greater robustness to the contaminants often found in biogas (e.g. sulphur)
Portable Steam: creating superheated steam instantaneously from methanol and hydrogen peroxide.
The Process
One of Oxford Catalysts' most exciting technologies is our chemical method of producing superheated steam (up to 800°c+) directly and instantaneously from a liquid fuel mixture.
The Benefits
Our steam production technology has the following advantages:
- instantaneous production
- high temperature or pressure achievable
- no flame or external heat source is required
- compact, safe and portable
Board of Directors and Key Management
| Board of Directors
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| Dr Pierre Jungels, CBE | Non-executive Chairman
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| Roy Lipski | Chief Executive Officer
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| Dr Will Barton | FRSC, Chief Operating Officer
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| Paul Barnes | FCCA, Finance Director
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| Dr Tiancun Xiao | Chief Scientific Officer
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| Professor Malcolm Green, FRS | Non-executive Director
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| Jeremy P. Scudamore | Non-executive Director
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| Susan Robertson | Chief Financial Officer
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| Dr Jan Verloop | Non-executive Director
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| Scientific Advisory Panel
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| Professor Malcolm Green, FRS, Non-executive Director
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| Professor Roger Ainsworth, Advisor DPhil (Oxon)
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| Professor Peter Dobson, Advisor BSc, MA (Oxon), PhD, C Phys, F Inst P |
Company Address
115e Milton Park Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom OX14 4RZ
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Capital40,566,990 Ordinary Shares |
Nominated Brokers
Financial Dynamics | | Nominated AdvisorsKBC Peel Hunt Ltd
111 Old Broad Street
London EC2N 1PH
United Kingdom |
Major Shareholders
| IP Group | 19.0%
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| Pioneer Investments | 17.4%
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| Lansdowne Partners | 13.1%
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| Dr Tiancun Xiao | 10.2% (company co-founder)
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| Professor Malcolm Green | 8.3% (company co-founder)
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| University of Oxford | 5.8%
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| New Star Asset Management | 5.6%
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| Credit Suisse Securities | 3.2% |
Most Recent Statement
26/02/09 -
Notice of Results19/09/08 -
Notice of Results01/09/08 -
Contract signed with Thai National Oil Company21/07/08 -
Oxford Catalysts signs MoU with Thai state-owned PTT Public21/07/08 -
Agreement with Thai National Oil Company08/07/08 -
Agreement Signed for Small Scale Fischer-Tropsch