Haldor Topsøe is a Danishcatalysis company founded in 1940 by Haldor Topsøe. The company has approximately 2,300 employees, of which 1,700 work in Denmark. Haldor Topsøe specialises in the production of heterogeneous catalysts and the design of process plants based on catalytic processes. Focus areas include the fertiliser industry, chemical and petrochemical industries, and the energy sector. Haldor Topsøe A/S is one of the world's leading companies 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 Haldor Topsøe. The headquarters and main research labs are located in Lyngby, a northern suburb of Copenhagen, Denmark, manufacturing of catalysts is carried out in Frederikssund, Denmark and the United States. The company has offices in Argentina, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United States. Haldor Topsøe's catalysts and technologies are used to clean oil and ensure more environmentally friendly fuels, for cleaning power industry flue gasses, for converting hydrocarbon feedstocks such as natural gas and LPG into ammonia, hydrogen and methanol, and for reducing emission 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 and its research has been regularly published in scientific journals. The founder, 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
Haldor Topsøe A/S was founded in 1940 by Haldor Topsøe. During World War II, 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, Topsøe worked as a consultancy company for several Swedish companies. The contact to Sweden was primarily arranged by the so-called Wallenberg group. In 1944 Topsøe produced the first small batch of sulphuric acid catalysts. Another company success came in 1948 when the development of the first nickel catalyst was finalized. That same year, Topsøe 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, Topsøe became engaged in various activities in Mexico that were connected to Topsøe's financial contacts in the US, including the World Bank. This led to the company's involvement in the planning of Mexico'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, Topsøe renewed its contacts with the research environment of the Soviet Union, and maintained close contact for several years with both the scientific environment and organisations involved with engineering within the field of catalysis. In 1955, Topsøe established the French subsidiary Haldor Topsøe S.A. and opened an office in Paris. Throughout the years, Topsøe was involved in many industrial activities, some privately and some publicly governed, and built several industrial plants. One of the bigger projects, in which Topsøe was involved, was the construction of a heavy water plant in Northern France. In 1958, Topsøe bought the estate Linderupgaard, situated outside Frederikssund, and the estate has been used for production of catalysts ever since. Topsøe opened a department in New York in 1961, called Haldor Topsoe Inc., and four years later the company furthermore bought a lot in Houston, Texas that is now being used for one of Topsøe's production plants. In 1971 the office was moved from New York to Houston. In the years 1971-1971, Topsøe established several big ammonia plants around the world. In 1972 the ownership of Topsøe changed from being a privately owned company to being a public limited company, owned 50/50 by both Haldor Topsøe and the Italian company Snamproggeti. In 1973, the Topsøe headquarters moved to Søborg from Vedbæk, where it has been situated since 1964. Just a year later, in 1974, Topsøe moved the headquarters to its present location in Ravnholm. In the beginning of the 1980s, Topsøe opened two offices in Asia: Delhi and Beijing. In the beginning of the 1990s to the mid 1990s, Topsøe opened two 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 the shares from the Italian contracting company Saipem for DKK 2.6 billion. That same year, Haldor Topsøe's subsidiary, Topsoe Fuel Cell, initiated the construction of Denmark's first fuel cell production plant that produces high temperature solid oxide fuel cells for environmentally friendly, green electricity and heat for trucks, houses, hospitals and supermarkets.
