South Africa-headquartered Valterra Platinum has, through a Chinese subsidiary, entered into a collaboration agreement with Shanghai Pujing Chemical Technology to support the scale-up and further development of an innovative methyl methacrylate (MMA) production process based on a proprietary palladium-enabled catalyst system.

The collaboration is aimed at advancing a technology platform designed to support the evolving needs of China's MMA industry.

The agreement was signed during Shanghai Platinum Week in July by representatives of both companies, in the presence of Pujing Chemical chairperson Zhu Shen and Valterra CEO Craig Miller.

MMA is a key chemical building block used in the production of acrylic glass, as well as coatings, adhesives and speciality materials serving industries including construction, transportation, electronics, healthcare and renewable energy.

"MMA is a strategically important chemical building block that supports a broad range of downstream applications across sectors from construction and transportation to healthcare and renewable energy. Pujing Chemical's palladium-enabled process has the potential to improve environmental performance and support the production of high-purity MMA,” says Miller.

In a media release, Valterra explains that China is the world's largest MMA producer and consumer.

As the industry continues its transition towards cleaner and more resource-efficient production pathways, Valterra says increasing focus is being placed on processes that reduce waste, improve environmental performance and support the production of higher-purity MMA for advanced applications.

The company notes that Pujing Chemical's proprietary technology has been developed to support this transition. The process uses a palladium-enabled catalyst system to provide domestic producers with an alternative, domestically developed platform for producing high-purity MMA.

Valterra says Pujing Chemical has successfully completed tonne-scale testing and is now advancing construction of a pilot plant to further validate the technology under larger-scale operating conditions.

Through the agreement, Valterra supports the pilot programme as part of its market development activities.

The collaboration also establishes a framework for identifying and evaluating new platinum group metal- (PGM-) enabled technologies and applications that can create sustainable long-term demand for PGMs.

As with other PGM market development initiatives spearheaded by Valterra, the company says participation in this collaboration is open to other PGM producers.

“We are pleased to collaborate on a project that demonstrates the role PGMs can play in enabling innovative industrial technologies while supporting future growth in palladium demand," says Miller.