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Archive Manufacturing Archive Johnson Matthey to sink £55m into expansion in Europe and N America
Archive Manufacturing Archive Johnson Matthey to sink £55m into expansion in Europe and N America | Johnson Matthey to sink £55m into expansion in Europe and N America |
| Written by Lautaro Vargas | ||||
| Friday, 30 November 2007 | ||||
Page 1 of 2 Royston-based Johnson Matthey is to spend £55 million on the construction of two entirely new international emission control catalyst plants in an effort to meet the rapidly growing demand for its products in Europe and North America. The chemicals giant, which recently revealed a 20 per cent revenue growth for its first half year results, will be able to produce up to 5 million extra catalysts every year as a result of the new plants - to be built in Macedonia and the USA. It hopes to have both facilities, which will build catalysts for both light and heavy duty diesel vehicles, will be operational by the end of 2009. The first of these major projects is a state of the art manufacturing facility that is to be constructed in the Bunardjick Technological and Industrial Development Zone, some 10 miles from the Macedonian capital, Skopje, creating over 100 jobs there in the first instance. A Johnson Matthey spokesperson said several options had been considered and that the UK – which is already being expanded – and Belgian manufacturing plants had already reached capacity. The new Macedonia plant will be built to a modular design and the initial phase will incorporate highly automated production lines for both light duty diesel autocatalysts and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalysts for heavy duty diesel vehicles. SCR utilises catalysts to reduce emissions of oxides of nitrogen, commonly referred to as NOx, from diesel vehicle exhaust. These systems also require a urea additive that is injected into the exhaust stream ahead of the SCR catalysts. SCR systems are extensively used on heavy duty diesel vehicles in Europe to meet the current Euro IV heavy duty diesel emissions standards that came into force in the European Union in October 2006 and demand is forecast to grow strongly over the next few years. |
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