Inco and Süd-Chemie establish emission control products joint venture

30 November 2006

Inco Limited, a leading nickel producer based in Toronto, Canada, and Süd-Chemie AG, Munich, Germany, a supplier of catalysts for the chemicals and refining industry and for environmental applications, will establish a joint venture company for the production and marketing of catalyzed diesel emission control materials for the automotive industry. Equity interests in the new company, which will be named Alantum, will be divided equally between Inco ECM GmbH, a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of Inco Limited, and Süd-Chemie.

Alantum will develop diesel oxidation catalysts (DOC) and diesel particulate filters (DPF) based on Inco metal foam substrates. The products will be marketed for European passenger car and light truck applications. Production will take place in a new facility at Süd Chemie’s Heufeld site in Germany. Commercial scale production is expected to begin in 2008.

Süd-Chemie brings into the joint venture its expertise in catalyst technology, while Inco will provide the new nickel-based alloy foam substrate and metals processing technology. This new generation of catalyzed substrates for emission control products will be offered in competition to the traditional catalyzed ceramic substrates. Most of diesel particulate filter systems in European passenger cars currently utilize wall-flow monolith substrates made of silicon carbide.

The Incofoam substrates were described in the SAE paper 2006-01-1524.

Source: Inco