Honeywell (HON) Unveils Catalyst To Meet Euro V Standards

Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE:HON) UOP recently introduced the latest addition to its Unity hydrotreating portfolio — ULTIMet catalyst. The catalyst can more efficiently remove sulfur and nitrogen from lower-value diesel blending components, allowing them to meet Euro V clean fuels specifications.

It has more active sites for chemical reactions and can be used as a drop-in reload to "debottleneck" a unit, resulting in increased plant capacity without incurring additional capital expenditure. Also, it can be loaded in combination with conventional hydrotreating catalysts to further improve performance.

The ULTIMet catalyst will help refiners facing stricter fuel requirements to meet higher quality product specifications and achieve increased profitability. It also delivers greater operating flexibility than conventional catalysts in hydrotreaters. It is capable of processing challenging and lower-priced feedstocks while maintaining existing yields and quality. In addition, the catalyst has the strength and attrition resistance necessary to prevent breaking, which ensures a more reliable operation and helps to extend the operating cycle by 50 to 75%. Hydrotreating is a critical step in the refining process, as it helps produce a cleaner-burning diesel fuel product that meets new fuel regulations like the Euro V standard.

Honeywell UOP's line of Unity catalysts includes more than two dozen hydrotreating catalysts for hydrocracking and fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) pre-treat and diesel, kerosene and coker naphtha hydrotreating. Honeywell UOP also offers catalysts for naphtha hydrotreating and FCC gasoline desulfurization. It is a leading international supplier and licensor of process technology, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment and consulting services to the petroleum refining, petrochemical and gas processing industries. It is part of Honeywell's Performance Materials and Technologies strategic business group.

Honeywell’s shares have outperformed the industry in the last three months with an average loss of 0.7% compared with a decline of 1.5% for the latter.

Zacks Rank and Key Picks

Honeywell carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A few better-ranked stocks in the industry are Raven Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:RAVN) , 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) and Federal Signal Corporation (NYSE:FSS) . While Raven Industries sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 3M and Federal Signal carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Raven Industries has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 10%. It surpassed estimates thrice in the trailing four quarters with an average beat of 20.2%.

3M has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 10.2%. It trumped estimates in three of the trailing four quarters, the average being 3.2%.

Federal Signal exceeded estimates in each of the trailing four quarters with an average of 16.5%.

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