The ‘EXAct sphere’ technology is a new and innovative approach to create spherical catalyst supports, which are – in spite of all their theoretical drawbacks, such as their dense packing and a low geometric surface area – are still one of the most popular carriers sold on the market.

Exacer’s goal was to invent a technology that would eliminate several of the technical limitations and drawbacks of the established routes:

• Our technology can be basically applied to all kinds of materials and usually does not require the addition of inorganic binders. Therefore, we are able to create ultra-high purity supports (e.g., from pyrogenic silica or ultrapure alumina).
• The process naturally provides a very uniform size distribution, without losing large parts in a sieving step (a typical standard deviation is in the range of only 1-2%). CFD studies prove that the carrier behaves like perfect sphere packing with a desirable void volume, leading to a favorable pressure drop and a very homogenous flow distribution across the reactor.
• We can easily manipulate the physical properties, such BET surface area, pore volume or pore size distribution, so that we can provide a large variety of different supports characteristics. With this technology we can even achieve very extreme parameters, e.g., γ-alumina spheres with a bulk density as low as 500 g/l (the usual standard is ~700 g/l).
• The EXAct spheres have outstanding mechanical properties. This is illustrated by our zirconia-spheres, which have approx. 1/3rd less attrition, when compared to extrudates of a similar size and properties, which is a huge advantage for the handling, e.g., in subsequent impregnation steps. Another example is a highly pure silica carrier with a large pore volume (up to 1.4 ml/g), which is sufficiently robust, so that it can be impregnated under ‘standard conditions’ of a wet impregnation process without enduring a structural collapse as is often found for silica carriers.