Haldor Topsøe (company)
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Topsoe (previously Haldor Topsøe) is a Danish company founded in 1940 by Haldor Topsøe. The company has approximately 2,300 employees, of which 1,700 work in Denmark. The company specializes in technologies aimed at reducing carbon emissions, supplying technology, catalysts, and services for the global energy transition. That includes proprietary Solid oxide electrolyzer cell (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 (steel and iron, chemicals, cement), long-haul transportation (aviation, shipping, trucking) and clean fuels (bio-diesel and ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD). Topsoe is actively involved in the field of heterogeneous catalysis, contributing significantly to the global production of ammonia for fertilizer The headquarters and main research labs are located in Lyngby, a northern suburb of
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
, Denmark, manufacturing of catalysts is carried out in Frederikssund, Denmark and 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 In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and Hydrophobe, hydrophobic; their odor is usually fain ...
feedstocks such as natural gas into ammonia,
hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...
, diesel and methanol. The company collaborates with the Technical University of Denmark and with its research often appearing in scientific journals. The founder, Dr. Haldor Topsøe, died on 20 May 2013 after a short illness, at age 99. 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, 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. This led to the company's involvement in the planning of
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
'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 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
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 city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. 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, and the estate has been used for production of catalysts ever since. Topsoe opened a department in New York in 1961, called Haldor Topsoe Inc., and four years later the company bought a lot in
Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
, Texas, 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, where it had been situated since 1964. Just a year later, in 1974, Topsoe moved the headquarters to its present location in Kongens Lyngby, just outside
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
, 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 (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 it 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 underwent a rebranding to Topsoe. In September 2022, Topsoe won the world’s largest ever hydrogen electrolyses order to provide 5GW of its solid-oxide electrolyses.


Criticism

In 2022, Topsoes investment in a factory producing Sustainable Aviation Fuel from palm oil in Manaus, Brazil, was criticized in Danish media. Experts argue that palm oil is one of the most environmentally damaging biofuels, contributing to deforestation and
climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
. The planned facility, set to produce half a million tons of fuel annually by 2025, raises concerns about biodiversity loss and carbon emissions from deforestation. Despite Topsoe's claims that the project will adhere to sustainability certifications, critics say the reliance on palm oil undermines genuine climate action and risks worsening environmental degradation in the Amazon. The NGO Corporate Observatory Europe notes Topsoe's involvement in lobby work at EU-level for inflated green hydrogen targets and expanded public funding into green hydrogen infrastructure, which risks diverting focus from more immediate and effective climate solutions.


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