Engelhard Corporation says it has developed new technology that enables petroleum refiners to meet or even exceed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations for the control of emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx).

Using the company's new 'CLEANOx' and 'OxyClean' environmental-compliance additives the firm says it is able to eliminate most NOx emissions from the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit without affecting performance.

'By applying our expertise in automotive catalysis to the petroleum refining market, we developed innovative environmental additives that provide dramatic NOx reductions while maintaining FCC unit performance,' explained Engelhard's Wendi Weber, a process technology product specialist.

The additives have been proven to work even under harsh regenerator environments including those using oxygen enrichment, platinum-based carbon monoxide (CO) combustion promoters and initial NOx concentrations below 50 ppm.