Topsoe (previously Haldor Topsøe) is a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

company founded in 1940 by Haldor Topsøe. The company has approximately 2,300 employees, of which 1,700 work in Denmark. Topsoe develops solutions for a decarbonized world, supplying technology, catalysts, and services for the global energy transition. The company specializes in carbon emission reduction technologies. This includes proprietary

Solid oxide electrolyzer cell A solid oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) is a solid oxide fuel cell that runs in regenerative mode to achieve the electrolysis of water (and/or carbon dioxide) by using a solid oxide, or ceramic, electrolyte to produce hydrogen gas (and/or carbon ...

(SOEC) high-temperature electrolysis technology, the production of heterogeneous catalysts and the design of process plants based on catalytic processes. Focus areas include hard-to-abate sectors such as

heavy industry Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); o ...

(steel and iron, chemicals, cement), long-haul transportation (aviation, shipping, trucking) and clean fuels (bio-diesel and

ultra-low-sulfur diesel Ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD) is diesel fuel with substantially lowered sulfur content. Since 2006, almost all of the petroleum-based diesel fuel available in Europe and North America has been of a ULSD type. The move to lower sulfur content allo ...

(ULSD). Topsoe works within the field of heterogeneous catalysis, and over 50 per cent of the ammonia used for fertilizer on a worldwide scale is made with the help of technology from Topsoe. Haldor Topsøe bygning 2

The headquarters and main research labs are located in Lyngby, a northern suburb of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Denmark, manufacturing of catalysts is carried out in

Frederikssund Frederikssund () is a Danish town, seat of the Frederikssund Municipality, in the Region Hovedstaden with a population of 16,850 (1 January 2022).Bayport Industrial District in the United States. The company has offices in Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the United States. Topsoe's catalysts and technologies are used for converting renewable feedstocks such as renewable electricity and waste or hydrocarbon feedstocks such as

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

into

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous was ...

hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, an ...

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

and

methanol Methanol (also called methyl alcohol and wood spirit, amongst other names) is an organic chemical and the simplest aliphatic alcohol, with the formula C H3 O H (a methyl group linked to a hydroxyl group, often abbreviated as MeOH). It is a ...

. Other main business areas are to clean oil and ensure more environmentally friendly fuels, cleaning industry flue gasses, and reducing emissions from industry. In chemical plants catalysts and processes optimize resources, ensuring highly efficient energy processes. The company frequently collaborates with the

Technical University of Denmark The Technical University of Denmark ( da, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet), often simply referred to as DTU, is a polytechnic university and school of engineering. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's fi ...

and its research has been regularly published in scientific journals. The founder, Dr. Haldor Topsøe, died on 20 May 2013 after a short illness, just four days before his 100th birthday. He was the chairman of the company from its founding until his death. Jeppe Christiansen is now chairman of the board. Bjerne S. Clausen was president and CEO until June 2020. On June 2, 2020, Roeland Baan took over as president and CEO.

History

Topsoe was founded in 1940 by Dr. Haldor Topsøe. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the company got permission to use the labs at the Polytechnic Educational Establishment, and in 1943 they moved to facilities in Hellerup, north of Copenhagen. The move meant that the company could expand its field of work because of the access to additional equipment. During the war, Topsoe worked as a consultancy company for several Swedish companies. The contact to Sweden was primarily arranged by the so-called Wallenberg group. In 1944 Topsoe produced the first small batch of sulfuric acid catalysts. Another company success came in 1948, when the development of the first nickel catalyst was finalized. That same year, Topsoe began cooperating with Vargöns AB in Vargön, Sweden with the aim of producing a catalyst for ammonia synthesis. Shortly after the war had come to an end, Topsoe became engaged in various activities in Mexico that were connected to Topsoe's financial contacts in the US, including the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

. This led to the company's involvement in the planning of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

's technical development as well as in the American agronomist Norman Borlaug's experiment with wheat in the Sonora region of Northern Mexico. In the years following 1950, Topsoe renewed its contacts with the research environment of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and maintained close contact for several years with both the scientific environment and organizations involved with engineering within the field of catalysis. In 1955, Topsoe established the French subsidiary Haldor Topsøe S.A. and opened an office in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. Throughout the years, Topsoe was involved in many industrial activities, some privately and some publicly governed, and built several industrial plants. One of the bigger projects in which Topsoe was involved, was the construction of a heavy water plant in Northern France. In 1958, Topsoe bought the estate Linderupgaard, situated outside

Frederikssund Frederikssund () is a Danish town, seat of the Frederikssund Municipality, in the Region Hovedstaden with a population of 16,850 (1 January 2022).Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, that is now being used for one of Topsoe's production plants. In 1971, the office was moved from New York to Houston. Topsoe has delivered process design and technologies for several big ammonia plants around the world. In 1972, the ownership of Topsoe changed from being a privately owned company to being a public limited company, owned 50/50 by Haldor Topsøe and the Italian company Snamproggeti. In 1973, Topsoe headquarters moved to Søborg from

Vedbæk Vedbæk is a wealthy suburban neighbourhood on the coast north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It belongs to Rudersdal Municipality and has merged with the town of Hørsholm to the north. The area has been inhabited for at least 7,000 years, as evidenced ...

, where it had been situated since 1964. Just a year later, in 1974, Topsoe moved the headquarters to its present location in

Kongens Lyngby Kongens Lyngby (, Danish for "the King's Heather Town"; short form Lyngby) is the seat and commercial centre of Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Lyngby Hovedgade is a busy shopping street and the site of ...

, just outside

, Denmark. In the beginning of the 1980s, Topsoe opened two offices in Asia: Delhi and Beijing. In the beginning of the 1990s to the mid-1990s, Topsøe opened offices in Moscow and Jaroslavl in Russia, as well as a department in Los Angeles in the US. In 2007, Haldor Topsøe bought back all shares from the Italian contracting company

Saipem Saipem S.p.A. (Società Anonima Italiana Perforazioni E Montaggi lit. ''Drilling and Assembly Italian Public Limited Company'') is an Italian multinational oilfield services company and one of the largest in the world. Until 2016 it was a subsid ...

(which had bought Snamprogetti) for DKK 2.6 billion. That same year, Haldor Topsoe's subsidiary, Topsoe Fuel Cell, initiated the construction of Denmark's first fuel cell production plant that produces high temperature solid oxide fuel cells (also known as SOFC) for environmentally friendly, green electricity and heat for trucks, houses, hospitals and supermarkets. In June 2017, Umicore announced "that is has reached an agreement to acquire the heavy duty diesel and stationary catalyst businesses of Haldor Topsoe for an enterprise value of DKK 900 million (approx. EUR 120 million) plus an earn-out"; this acquisition should be earnings accretive from 2018. In 2022, Haldor Topsoe rebranded to Topsoe. In September 2022, Topsoe win world’s largest ever hydrogen electrolyser order to provide 5GW of its solid-oxide electrolysers.

References

External links

Company website

An Annual Reviews Conversations Interview with Haldor Topsøe
'' Annual Review of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering ''(2011) {{DEFAULTSORT:Haldor Topsoe (company) Chemical companies established in 1940 Chemical companies of Denmark Companies based in Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality Danish companies established in 1940