16-06-2016

Ten Honeywell UOP scientists recognized as “Heroes Of Chemistry”

Honeywell UOP announced today that the American Chemical Society (ACS) has recognized 10 of its scientists with the Heroes of Chemistry Award for the development and commercialization of the process to manufacture renewable jet fuel.

The award recognizes the scientists’ work on process technology to make jet fuel from waste oils and fats rather than from petroleum that can be blended seamlessly with conventional jet fuel. The resulting fuel, known as Honeywell Green Jet Fuel™, produces 50 to 80 percent less greenhouse gas on a lifecycle basis and can be used with existing fueling infrastructure and aircraft engines, auxiliary power units and other aircraft components

“Greenhouse gas emissions in aviation are getting more critical because they occur in the upper atmosphere, where their effect is more severe,” said Dave Cepla, senior director of Renewable Energy & Chemicals for Honeywell UOP. “Honeywell Green Jet Fuel is a renewable alternative that significantly reduces emissions of these gases in aviation and without retrofitting aircraft.”

In January, AltAir Paramount LLC became the first to use the process technology for commercial-scale production, with a capacity of 35 million gallons per year. United Airlines became the first airline company to use the fuel in regular commercial service in March, followed by World Fuel Services.

The Honeywell UOP process can accommodate a wide range of oils and fats as feedstock, and produce an equally flexible product slate, including fuels for aviation, as well as marine and road transportation. It was developed, along with the catalysts and adsorbents, to handle a wide variety of low-cost and contaminated feeds, dramatically improving the economics of the process. The product, also called synthetic paraffinic kerosene from hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA-SPK), has the same cold flow properties, distillation range and behavior as conventional jet fuel.

These breakthroughs required both new catalysts and process flow schemes that were granted 25 U.S. patents. Included among those recognized by the ACS are Stan Frey and Dan Ellig, who identified the catalysts and operating conditions, and Tom Kalnes who led the life cycle analysis work to evaluate the savings in greenhouse gas emissions for a variety of raw materials that can be used in the process. Mike McCall and Randy Williams led the combustion and emissions testing work that was necessary to approve the fuel for aviation use while Don Eizenga and Jim Wexler developed the commercial scale production design. Ralph Davis and Chad Cavan developed the procedures to operate the unit, and Hieu (Sunny) Nguyen was the chief technical advisor for the launch customer.

The ACS has also recognized the Honeywell Fluorine Products team for the development of a next generation hydrofluoro-olefin (HFO) refrigerant for mobile air conditioning (MAC) systems. This new hydrofluoro-olefin (HFO-1234yf) has a global warming potential (GWP) of less than 1 compared to the GWP of 1300 that is associated with R-134a, the most commonly used chlorofluorocarbon MAC refrigerant today. Additionally, HFO-1234yf is a “near drop-in replacement” for R-134a, meaning it can be used in current air conditioning systems with little adaptation. HFO-1234yf is now the leading non-ozone-depleting and low-global-warming-potential (LGWP) fluorocarbon used in mobile air conditioning applications.

Each year, Heroes of Chemistry are nominated by their respective companies to recognize their talent, creativity and innovation. Previous Heroes have excelled in innovation at prominent international corporations and have developed numerous commercial products that demonstrate strong financial performance. The commercial success of their products in the marketplace is an important criterion for this honor.

For more information, please visit www.uop.com