Haldor Topsoe to work with China to reduce car emission

Danish company Haldor Topsoe, a world leader in catalysis, plans to help China alleviate its air quality pressure by building a catalytic plant in the country to reduce car emission.

The company launched a 600 million yuan ($91 million) catalytic converter plant in Tianjin on Thursday to help China reduce car emission and improve air quality.

"Topsoe is strongly committed to China. China is an important growth market for us, and we believe that the production of advanced catalytic converters will be a relevant contribution to support the ambitious environmental goals in the 15th Five Year Plan," said CEO Bjerne S. Clausen.

The plant produces catalytic converters that cleanse the exhaust from heavy duty diesel engines in trucks, buses and other vehicles. Basic components of smog as well as hazardous soot particles are removed, which improves air quality significantly.

The catalyst roll, placed inside the damper of a car, is able to lower the nitrogen oxide by more than 90 percent. It can be used for around 10 years, according to Lars Storm Pedersen, vice president of Topseo.

"We choose Tianjin because we want a port to be nearby so that we can easily access imported materials and export the products elsewhere. Plus, the workforce is quite stable here," said Pedersen.

The plant in Tianjin is Topseo's first manufacturing base in China and the second one outside Denmark. It is so far the largest single case investment by the company.

Its second overseas plant is in Brazil, which is expected to start operation within this year.

Topseo is one of the largest catalysis producers in the world. It has remained a family business since it was created in 1940. It registered $850 million revenue in 2015.