Oxford Catalysts, the 55th company to spin out from Oxford, develops catalyst technology for the petroleum refining and petrochemical industry, selected areas of the fuel cell industry, and the processing of waste biogas.

The company is based on technology which has been developed over 18 years at Oxford by Dr Tiancun Xiao, of the Wolfson Catalysis Centre and the Chemistry Department, and Professor Malcolm Green, of the Inorganic Chemistry Department. Both founders have world-wide reputations in catalysis science. Isis Innovation, the University’s wholly-owned technology transfer arm, holds a series of patent applications on the intellectual property rights and has licensed them to the Company.

The founders have developed catalysts that can be used to transform waste methane into hydrogen for use with fuel cells, or into pure liquid fuels that can be used for engines or heating and are easy to transport. Further applications include the partial oxidation of natural gas and removal of sulphur from crude oil. The basis of the technology is an innovative method for catalyst preparation, which gives catalysts that are extremely active, selective and long lasting.

‘There are many sources of waste methane, ranging from agricultural waste and landfill to flare-off from oil production,’ said Dr Xiao. ‘Capturing the methane is important not only due to its high energetic value, but also because it is a very powerful greenhouse gas – 23 times worse than carbon dioxide – and its presence in the atmosphere contributes to global warming.’

Oxford Catalysts will also exploit catalyst technology that produces hydrogen from a liquid fuel containing methanol, starting from room temperature. The technology is capable of being miniaturised for portable fuel cell applications – for example, for laptops – and has already received significant commercial interest.

In preparing to spin out Oxford Catalysts, Isis Innovation was greatly supported by the Oxford University Begbroke Science Park, which runs the Oxford Enterprise Fellowship programme. The programme awarded a Technology Enterprise Fellowship to Dr Xiao which allowed him to concentrate for a year on developing the technology and generating commercial interest.

Professor Peter Dobson, Academic Director of Begbroke Science Park and the Enterprise Fellowship programme, said: ‘Enabling successes like this is what the Begbroke Enterprise Fellowship is all about. We’re very proud of what has been achieved by Dr Xiao and the other Enterprise Fellows and are looking forward to be able to help others in the future.’

The investment round of £500,000 was led by IP2IPO Group plc with additional investment from Top Technology Ventures, IP2IPO’s venture capital fund management subsidiary. Isis Innovation and IP2IPO worked in close partnership to prepare Oxford Catalysts for investment. Dave Norwood, IP2IPO’s Chief Executive, said: ‘Oxford Catalysts represents a very exciting investment for IP2IPO with ground-breaking technology which has the potential to make a significant impact in both increasing fuel efficiency in the petroleum and petrochemical industry and supplying catalysts to the growing waste biogas and fuel cell industries.’

Tim Cook, the Managing Director of Isis Innovation, said: ‘the technologies which Oxford Catalyst offers have a very wide application, and will lead to huge energy economies. We look forward to a successful future for the company’.