Clariant Expands Production Capacity for Houdry® Dehydrogenation Catalysts

- Production capacity will be increased to meet strong demand
- Debottlenecking of plant in Louisville, USA
- New production facility planned to start in September 2013


Muttenz/Charlotte, – Clariant, a world leader in Specialty Chemicals, today announced to expand the production capacity for Houdry® dehydrogenation catalysts. The expansion will be achieved by a low double-digit million Swiss francs investment at its current Louisville/Kentucky, USA plant. Production is planned to start in September 2013. Surging ethylene production based on shale gas without C3- and C4-olefins byproduct has generated a significant increase in Houdry catalyst demand. The Houdry catalysts are part of the broad portfolio of highly innovative catalyst products from Clariant’s business unit Catalysis & Energy (formerly Süd-Chemie). It is headquartered in Munich, Germany, and has 16 catalyst production sites worldwide. “The first expansion investment in Louisville will further strengthen our position in the market for Houdry catalysts and allows us to cover catalyst requirements from our customers”, said Harm Scheepstra, Head of Business Unit Catalysis & Energy.

Houdry dehydrogenation catalysts are used in the Petrochemical industry to produce C3- and C4-olefins from light paraffins (including Butadiene) using the CATOFIN® and CATADIENE® technologies, which are exclusively licensed through Lummus Technology, a CB&I business sector. CB&I is one of the world’s leading engineering, procurement and construction companies and a major process technology licensor.


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HOUDRY®, CATOFIN®, and CATADIENE® are registered trademarks.



Clariant is an internationally active specialty chemical company, based in Muttenz near Basel. The group owns over 100 companies worldwide and employed 22 149 employees on December 31, 2011. In the financial year 2011, Clariant produced a turnover of around CHF 7.4 billion. Clariant is divided into eleven business units: Additives; Catalysis & Energy; Emulsions, Detergents & Intermediates; Functional Materials; Industrial & Consumer Specialties; Leather Services; Masterbatches; Oil & Mining Services; Paper Specialties; Pigments; Textile Chemicals. Clariant focuses on creating value by investing in future profitable and sustainable growth, which is based on four strategic pillars: Improving profitability, innovation as well as research and development, dynamic growth in emerging markets, and optimizing the portfolio through complementary acquisitions or divestments.