Commercialisation
The Catalysis Institute focuses on the development of novel materials and processes towards a sustainable society.
Various research teams in the Catalysis Institute have lead commercialisation activities. Beyond the assignment of formal intellectual property in form of patents and trade secrets a total of four spin out companies have been founded.
HyPlat (Pty) Ltd is based on scientific and technological innovations developed within the National Hydrogen Catalysis Competence Centre HySA/Catalysis in the laboratories of the Catalysis Institute. The company focus is on the commercialisation of platinum group metal based membrane electrode assemblies for low temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells. HyPlat’s vision is to be the pre-eminent global supplier of fuel cell components to the fuel cell industry by providing technological breakthroughs and innovative solutions.
Based on over 30 years of experience in catalytic processing research and development, Cape Catalytix (Pty) Ltd develops, designs and builds bespoke laboratory-scale catalytic reaction test units, namely gas and/or liquid delivery systems, single or multiple catalytic reactor configurations, as well as simple product separation for off-line or on-line chemical analysis. It further holds the licence to manufacture and distribute an in-situ X-ray diffraction cell based on capillary technology developed in the Catalysis Institute.
Hydrogen Energy Applications (Pty) Ltd is combining expertise in fuel reforming and fuel cell technologies advanced within the Catalysis Institute and has developed the Power Pod as a solution to deploy fuel cell technology into Africa, where hydrogen distribution is all but non-existent. The Power Pod is a diesel generator replacement technology that produces on-site, on-demand and reliable electricity mainly as standalone systems of small to medium size. The focus lies on electric power sources comprising integrated hydrogen generators and fuel cells, to produce electricity in the range of 5 to 20 kWe.
As the latest commercialisation effort, C Star Holdings (Pty) Ltd aims to bring a series of technologies ranging from catalyst formulations to full process developments and technical equipment to the market. The projects are based on intellectual property developed within the Catalysis Institute. C Star is working on the development of a South African Power-to-Liquid technology for small to medium scale applications and the distribution of bespoke analytical laboratory tools for catalysis research, while providing consulting services to policy makers and the private sector.