The Catalyst Review November 2019 - 18

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Vinu Kurian Baby

R&D Team Leader, Petrogas Technology Center, India
Vinu Kurian Baby holds a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology
(NIT), Trichy, India (2008). His career started as a Research Assistant with Oxide India Private Limited, an Indian
manufacturer of Catalysts, Adsorbents, Catalyst Carriers and Supports. Vinu has a passion for research catalysts,
and associated products, and currently is the R&D Team leader of the joint venture of Oxide India - Petrogas Group.
Vinu has developed several custom-made Catalysts and Adsorbents for many refining, petrochemical and chemical
industries in addition to the standard products that have been in use for several years. His team is well equipped
to handle the development of Catalysts/Adsorbents to remove arsenic, fluoride, mercury and sulphur molecules of
varying types. He can be reached at vinu.k.baby@gmail.

The Catalyst Review asked Vinu his opinion on the most significant challenges industry faces regarding
the use of current catalyst technology as well as the most likely needs associated with catalyst
development as they relate to new commercial applications.
Catalysts make up a $25 billion market that includes refining, petrochemicals, polymers, environmental, and
specialty/fine chemical sectors. The current technologies used for catalyst preparation are highly advanced and
dependable. Catalysts are tailor-made to suit each application and should provide practical solutions to the
process intended for by analyzing the feedstock and targeted specifications of the output product. A proprietary
software support system (PGR) monitors the feedstock contents allowing process engineers to select the right
catalysts or its compositions to obtain optimum results.
Currently, the catalyst market is being reshaped by several levers: 1) feedstock contaminants vary in each
region; 2) feedstocks situations such as shale gas fracking; and 3) gasification of bio and lignocellulosic wastes of
biochemicals. Petrogas is flexible and ready to tackle these challenges with innovative, cost-effective solutions.
Costly promoters are still used in catalyst production. While they increase the production costs in the process
industries, Petrogas has come up with solutions that will save industries in production costs, while achieving the
same or better results. On the chemical front, each sector - Basic Chemicals, Intermediates, and Final Products
producers - are seeking catalytic solutions to achieve energy reductions and product improvements.
Environmental regulations in Europe are stringent. Development efforts that began in 1992 have allowed Petrogas
to address the most difficult tasks required to meet stricter regulations. We are currently developing catalysts
for West European manufacturers in places like Germany, as well as Asian and Middle Eastern companies.
Contaminants in the USA vary drastically from those in the Middle East or Africa and China. For instance, sulphur
compounds are significantly high in the Middle East compared to other parts of the world, which requires finetuning of catalyst performance.
Catalysts play a crucial role in providing future energy, material, and health needs of our planet. Petrogas is aware
of the global catalyst trends such as usage of lower volume of metals and precious metals and is strategically wellpositioned to fine-tune its catalyst offerings to address individual customer needs by limiting the cost factor and
increasing efficiency. Our role is not only to provide solutions to end-users but also to serve the leading catalyst
companies as well.

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The Catalyst Review

November 2019

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The Catalyst Review November 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Catalyst Review November 2019