BASF wins IChemE Award 2007 Prize for cyclododecanone production process
30 Oct 2007 - BASF received the ""AstraZeneca Award for Excellence in Green Chemistry and Engineering", one of eight "IChemE Awards 2007", for its novel process for producing cyclododecanone (CDon).
This new process developed by BASF researchers consists of three steps and requires just one catalyst, while conventional production processes have five steps and use three catalysts. It also stands out for yielding more final product while it produces clearly less waste and practically no waste water at all. Moreover, the new BASF process employs laughing gas (nitrous oxide), a waste product from the company's Verbund, as an oxidizing agent for the first time. BASF filed a patent application for its proprietary process in the fall of 2004.
The reasons the IChemE jury gives for the award state: "The new process for the synthesis of cyclododecanone using nitrous oxide is a major breakthrough in industrial oxidation processes. This new process not only allows a much shorter and more efficient route for the production of polyamide 12, but also uses a byproduct and green-house gas as a valuable reagent. It clearly shows that sustainable chemistry and economic value can indeed go hand-in-hand."
CDon is the key raw material for making laurolactam, an intermediate used to produce the high-performance plastic polyamide 12 (PA 12) as well as special valuable fragrances. BASF is building a production plant for CDon at its Verbund site in Ludwigshafen, Germany, which is due to come on stream in 2009. To man the plant, BASF will create some 40 new jobs. BASF has signed a long-term supply contract for most of the output of the new facility with EMS-CHEMIE, a company of Domat-Ems in Switzerland.
IChemE Awards
Chemistry Innovation handed out two awards on 5 October under the umbrella of IChemE’s annual awards programme, which recognises innovation and rewards excellence in the chemical and chemistry-using industries.
Highly commended: Greenwich-Surrey QPM entry
The major networking event took place at the Banqueting House in Whitehall and 430 diners from the international process industries attended. The popular TV engineering enthusiast Adam Hart-Davis was on hand to tear open the envelopes and announce the winners.
“We are delighted to support IChemE’s innovation programme”, commented ceo Carol Boyer, who hosted two tables at the event.
Winner of the Innovation in Applied Catalysis & Colloid Science Award: Eindhoven University
The 2006 Award for Innovation in Applied Catalysis and Colloid Science, presented by Hugo Steven, technical director, went to Eindhoven University of Technology for their new PrOx micro-reactor, which is designed to remove carbon monoxide from hydrogen gas for fuel cells.
Highly commended: Merck & Co
In the same category Merck & Co were highly commended for their cleaner, faster and greener route to an atherosclerosis treatment, as was Greenwich and Surrey Universities’ project for quality in particulate-based manufacturing (QPM).
Winner of the Green Chemical Technology Award: Carbon8
The 2006 Award for Green Chemical Technology, presented by Neville Hargreaves, commercial director, was accepted by the team from Carbon8. Their accelerated carbonation technology (ACT) aims to treat hazardous wastes and remediate contaminated land by carbonation. The process takes minutes rather than months, so is significantly quicker and more cost effective than alternatives.