Scaling the Energy Transition with Proven Industrial Platforms
Maurits van Tol, CEO of Catalyst Technologies at Johnson Matthey, outlines why industrial experience and execution will be critical to scaling the energy transition, particularly in fast-growing markets such as India.
February 05, 2026. By News Bureau
The global energy transition is increasingly discussed in terms of new fuels, new molecules and new technologies. While innovation is clearly important, much of the transition will be shaped by something more familiar: the application of established industrial know-how to new objectives. Across fuels and chemicals, the challenge is not only to invent solutions, but to design, build and operate plants at scale, reliably and economically, using technologies that are already well understood.
For companies with long experience in catalysis and process design, this perspective is not new. Johnson Matthey has spent decades working with customers to convert oil, gas and coal into synthesis gas and downstream products such as hydrogen, methanol and fuels. Those same industrial platforms now sit at the centre of efforts to reduce carbon intensity by changing feedstocks, improving efficiency and introducing new routes based on waste, biomass and captured carbon dioxide.
The energy transition, from this standpoint, is not a departure from industrial reality. It is an extension of it. This execution-led view is particularly relevant in markets such as India, where energy demand continues to grow and industrial assets are already operating at significant scale. In such contexts, progress will depend less on unproven concepts and more on how effectively established platforms can be adapted, delivered and operated under local conditions.
Established Platforms, Changing Inputs
At the heart of much of today’s fuels and chemicals production is synthesis gas, a mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Syngas provides a flexible intermediate that can be converted into a wide range of products, from methanol and hydrogen to liquid hydrocarbons. Johnson Matthey’s technologies are used in a significant proportion of the world’s syngas-based capacity, and that experience shapes how the company views the energy and chemical markets.
Traditionally, syngas has been produced from fossil feedstocks. Increasingly, however, customers are looking to generate it from alternative sources. Biomass, municipal solid waste and captured carbon dioxide combined with low-carbon hydrogen are all being explored as inputs. In India, large volumes of agricultural residues and urban waste streams are now being considered as feedstocks, reinforcing the importance of flexible upstream processing built on well-understood syngas platforms. The downstream chemistry remains broadly similar, but upstream processing, purification and operating conditions change to reflect the nature of the feedstock.
This ability to apply the same core platforms to different inputs is central to how the industry can progress. Rather than developing entirely new conversion routes for each feedstock, established syngas technologies can be adapted to work with different raw materials, provided the process is designed appropriately. This approach reduces technical risk and allows new projects to benefit from decades of operating experience.
Managing Complexity and Variability
Moving to alternative feedstocks introduces additional complexity. Biomass and waste-derived materials bring higher levels of contaminants, while processes involving carbon dioxide and low-carbon hydrogen can result in syngas compositions that differ significantly from traditional designs. Managing this variability is a practical challenge for plant designers and operators.
From a catalysis perspective, robustness becomes critical. Catalysts must tolerate impurities and operate reliably under a wider range of conditions, often for long periods without replacement. Johnson Matthey has developed catalysts and additives aimed at addressing these challenges, including materials that remove metals, sulphur compounds and oxygenates before they can affect downstream performance.
Feedstock preparation and purification are therefore as important as the core conversion steps. Hardware design, additive dosing and process control all contribute to maintaining stable operation. The objective is not to eliminate variability entirely, which is rarely possible, but to manage it within defined operating windows so that plants can run predictably and efficiently.
Improving Existing Assets
While new plants will be required to deliver many low-carbon fuels, including sustainable aviation fuel, a large installed base of existing assets will continue to operate for many years. These facilities represent a significant opportunity to reduce emissions through improved efficiency and utilisation. For countries like India, with a large installed base of refineries, hydrogen plants and chemical facilities, such optimisation measures offer a near-term pathway to lower emissions intensity without waiting for new capacity to be built.
Incremental improvements can have a meaningful impact. Increasing throughput, improving heat management and reducing energy consumption all lower the carbon footprint per unit of product. For example, Johnson Matthey has developed structured catalyst systems that can be installed in existing hydrogen plants to improve temperature control and conversion efficiency. Because these solutions are designed as drop-in replacements, they allow customers to upgrade performance without major changes to plant layout.
Digital optimisation tools play a complementary role. By analysing plant data and identifying bottlenecks, these tools help operators extract more value from existing assets. Even small percentage increases in output can translate into lower emissions intensity and improved economics, particularly for large plants.
This focus on optimisation reflects a pragmatic view of the transition. Not every emission reduction will come from new capacity. In many cases, improving how existing plants operate is one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to make progress.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel in Context
Sustainable aviation fuel has become a focal point for decarbonisation efforts, and for good reason. Aviation will continue to rely on liquid fuels for the foreseeable future, and SAF offers a way to reduce emissions using existing aircraft and fuel distribution infrastructure. This is especially relevant in India, where aviation demand is growing rapidly and the need to decarbonise future growth places increasing emphasis on scalable, industrial SAF production rather than small, pilot-scale solutions.
From a production standpoint, SAF relies on many of the same industrial platforms already used elsewhere in the fuels sector. Routes based on syngas and Fischer–Tropsch synthesis, for example, can produce hydrocarbon components suitable for aviation fuel when designed for the appropriate feedstocks and specifications. These facilities are new-build assets, but they draw heavily on established chemistry and process design.
One of the key challenges for SAF is scale. Current production represents only a small fraction of global aviation fuel demand, yet targets for 2030, 2040 and beyond imply rapid growth. Achieving this will require the deployment of multiple large plants around the world, using a range of feedstocks depending on regional availability.
Here again, experience matters. Scaling any industrial process requires more than technical feasibility. It requires standardisation, repeatability and learning across projects. Johnson Matthey’s involvement in large numbers of fuels and chemicals plants provides insight into how costs come down over time as designs are replicated and optimised.
Cost, Scale and Project Delivery
Cost remains a central issue for SAF and other low-carbon fuels. In the early stages of deployment, production costs are higher than for conventional fuels, reflecting smaller scale and limited operational history. Over time, however, costs fall as capacity increases and experience accumulates.
Scale is a key driver in this process. In markets such as India, the ability to replicate and deliver large projects efficiently will be critical. The combination of strong engineering capability established supply chains, and experience in executing complex industrial projects creates an environment where standardised designs and repeat deployment can meaningfully accelerate cost reduction. Repeated deployment of similar designs reduces engineering effort and construction risk. Modularisation and standard plant concepts support this approach, making it easier to deliver projects predictably.
Project delivery models also play an important role. Many SAF projects involve new participants who may be familiar with feedstock supply or product offtake, but less experienced in delivering large industrial plants. In these cases, partnerships between technology providers, engineering contractors and other specialists can help de-risk projects.
Johnson Matthey has emphasised the value of integrated offerings that combine syngas generation, purification, synthesis and upgrading, working with partners where appropriate. By reducing interfaces and clarifying responsibilities, such approaches can improve bankability and reduce financing costs, which are often as important as operating expenses in determining overall project viability.
Policy and Market Signals
Policy frameworks influence how quickly SAF and other low-carbon fuels are deployed. Mandates, incentives and mechanisms such as contracts for difference all play a role in creating demand and supporting early investment. Different regions have adopted different approaches, reflecting local priorities and market structures. In India, where policy frameworks for low-carbon fuels are still evolving, clarity and consistency will be particularly important in supporting long-lived industrial investments. As large plants require long payback periods, investors need confidence that policy support will remain in place over time. Standardisation of fuel specifications and certification also helps by enabling global trade and reducing complexity.
Ultimately, however, policy alone cannot deliver scale. Industrial capability, project execution and operational performance determine whether targets can be met. The role of policy is to create the conditions in which these factors can come together.
The next phase of the energy transition will be defined less by conceptual breakthroughs and more by delivery of energy security. Technologies exist to produce lower-carbon fuels and chemicals from a range of feedstocks. The challenge now is to apply those technologies at scale, repeatedly and reliably.
This will involve building new assets where required, particularly for fuels such as SAF, while continuing to improve the performance of existing plants. It will require robust catalysts, well-designed processes and a willingness to learn from each project. Above all, it will require a focus on execution.
For companies with deep experience in industrial chemistry and plant design, this represents both a responsibility and an opportunity. By applying what is already known, and by working closely with partners and customers, the industry can make steady, practical progress towards lower-carbon fuels and chemicals. Markets that combine rapid demand growth with deep industrial capability, including India, will play an important role in determining how quickly lower-carbon fuels and chemicals move from ambition to large-scale delivery.
- Maurits van Tol, CEO of Catalyst Technologies at Johnson Matthey
For companies with long experience in catalysis and process design, this perspective is not new. Johnson Matthey has spent decades working with customers to convert oil, gas and coal into synthesis gas and downstream products such as hydrogen, methanol and fuels. Those same industrial platforms now sit at the centre of efforts to reduce carbon intensity by changing feedstocks, improving efficiency and introducing new routes based on waste, biomass and captured carbon dioxide.
The energy transition, from this standpoint, is not a departure from industrial reality. It is an extension of it. This execution-led view is particularly relevant in markets such as India, where energy demand continues to grow and industrial assets are already operating at significant scale. In such contexts, progress will depend less on unproven concepts and more on how effectively established platforms can be adapted, delivered and operated under local conditions.
Established Platforms, Changing Inputs
At the heart of much of today’s fuels and chemicals production is synthesis gas, a mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Syngas provides a flexible intermediate that can be converted into a wide range of products, from methanol and hydrogen to liquid hydrocarbons. Johnson Matthey’s technologies are used in a significant proportion of the world’s syngas-based capacity, and that experience shapes how the company views the energy and chemical markets.
Traditionally, syngas has been produced from fossil feedstocks. Increasingly, however, customers are looking to generate it from alternative sources. Biomass, municipal solid waste and captured carbon dioxide combined with low-carbon hydrogen are all being explored as inputs. In India, large volumes of agricultural residues and urban waste streams are now being considered as feedstocks, reinforcing the importance of flexible upstream processing built on well-understood syngas platforms. The downstream chemistry remains broadly similar, but upstream processing, purification and operating conditions change to reflect the nature of the feedstock.
This ability to apply the same core platforms to different inputs is central to how the industry can progress. Rather than developing entirely new conversion routes for each feedstock, established syngas technologies can be adapted to work with different raw materials, provided the process is designed appropriately. This approach reduces technical risk and allows new projects to benefit from decades of operating experience.
Managing Complexity and Variability
Moving to alternative feedstocks introduces additional complexity. Biomass and waste-derived materials bring higher levels of contaminants, while processes involving carbon dioxide and low-carbon hydrogen can result in syngas compositions that differ significantly from traditional designs. Managing this variability is a practical challenge for plant designers and operators.
From a catalysis perspective, robustness becomes critical. Catalysts must tolerate impurities and operate reliably under a wider range of conditions, often for long periods without replacement. Johnson Matthey has developed catalysts and additives aimed at addressing these challenges, including materials that remove metals, sulphur compounds and oxygenates before they can affect downstream performance.
Feedstock preparation and purification are therefore as important as the core conversion steps. Hardware design, additive dosing and process control all contribute to maintaining stable operation. The objective is not to eliminate variability entirely, which is rarely possible, but to manage it within defined operating windows so that plants can run predictably and efficiently.
Improving Existing Assets
While new plants will be required to deliver many low-carbon fuels, including sustainable aviation fuel, a large installed base of existing assets will continue to operate for many years. These facilities represent a significant opportunity to reduce emissions through improved efficiency and utilisation. For countries like India, with a large installed base of refineries, hydrogen plants and chemical facilities, such optimisation measures offer a near-term pathway to lower emissions intensity without waiting for new capacity to be built.
Incremental improvements can have a meaningful impact. Increasing throughput, improving heat management and reducing energy consumption all lower the carbon footprint per unit of product. For example, Johnson Matthey has developed structured catalyst systems that can be installed in existing hydrogen plants to improve temperature control and conversion efficiency. Because these solutions are designed as drop-in replacements, they allow customers to upgrade performance without major changes to plant layout.
Digital optimisation tools play a complementary role. By analysing plant data and identifying bottlenecks, these tools help operators extract more value from existing assets. Even small percentage increases in output can translate into lower emissions intensity and improved economics, particularly for large plants.
This focus on optimisation reflects a pragmatic view of the transition. Not every emission reduction will come from new capacity. In many cases, improving how existing plants operate is one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to make progress.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel in Context
Sustainable aviation fuel has become a focal point for decarbonisation efforts, and for good reason. Aviation will continue to rely on liquid fuels for the foreseeable future, and SAF offers a way to reduce emissions using existing aircraft and fuel distribution infrastructure. This is especially relevant in India, where aviation demand is growing rapidly and the need to decarbonise future growth places increasing emphasis on scalable, industrial SAF production rather than small, pilot-scale solutions.
From a production standpoint, SAF relies on many of the same industrial platforms already used elsewhere in the fuels sector. Routes based on syngas and Fischer–Tropsch synthesis, for example, can produce hydrocarbon components suitable for aviation fuel when designed for the appropriate feedstocks and specifications. These facilities are new-build assets, but they draw heavily on established chemistry and process design.
One of the key challenges for SAF is scale. Current production represents only a small fraction of global aviation fuel demand, yet targets for 2030, 2040 and beyond imply rapid growth. Achieving this will require the deployment of multiple large plants around the world, using a range of feedstocks depending on regional availability.
Here again, experience matters. Scaling any industrial process requires more than technical feasibility. It requires standardisation, repeatability and learning across projects. Johnson Matthey’s involvement in large numbers of fuels and chemicals plants provides insight into how costs come down over time as designs are replicated and optimised.
Cost, Scale and Project Delivery
Cost remains a central issue for SAF and other low-carbon fuels. In the early stages of deployment, production costs are higher than for conventional fuels, reflecting smaller scale and limited operational history. Over time, however, costs fall as capacity increases and experience accumulates.
Scale is a key driver in this process. In markets such as India, the ability to replicate and deliver large projects efficiently will be critical. The combination of strong engineering capability established supply chains, and experience in executing complex industrial projects creates an environment where standardised designs and repeat deployment can meaningfully accelerate cost reduction. Repeated deployment of similar designs reduces engineering effort and construction risk. Modularisation and standard plant concepts support this approach, making it easier to deliver projects predictably.
Project delivery models also play an important role. Many SAF projects involve new participants who may be familiar with feedstock supply or product offtake, but less experienced in delivering large industrial plants. In these cases, partnerships between technology providers, engineering contractors and other specialists can help de-risk projects.
Johnson Matthey has emphasised the value of integrated offerings that combine syngas generation, purification, synthesis and upgrading, working with partners where appropriate. By reducing interfaces and clarifying responsibilities, such approaches can improve bankability and reduce financing costs, which are often as important as operating expenses in determining overall project viability.
Policy and Market Signals
Policy frameworks influence how quickly SAF and other low-carbon fuels are deployed. Mandates, incentives and mechanisms such as contracts for difference all play a role in creating demand and supporting early investment. Different regions have adopted different approaches, reflecting local priorities and market structures. In India, where policy frameworks for low-carbon fuels are still evolving, clarity and consistency will be particularly important in supporting long-lived industrial investments. As large plants require long payback periods, investors need confidence that policy support will remain in place over time. Standardisation of fuel specifications and certification also helps by enabling global trade and reducing complexity.
Ultimately, however, policy alone cannot deliver scale. Industrial capability, project execution and operational performance determine whether targets can be met. The role of policy is to create the conditions in which these factors can come together.
The next phase of the energy transition will be defined less by conceptual breakthroughs and more by delivery of energy security. Technologies exist to produce lower-carbon fuels and chemicals from a range of feedstocks. The challenge now is to apply those technologies at scale, repeatedly and reliably.
This will involve building new assets where required, particularly for fuels such as SAF, while continuing to improve the performance of existing plants. It will require robust catalysts, well-designed processes and a willingness to learn from each project. Above all, it will require a focus on execution.
For companies with deep experience in industrial chemistry and plant design, this represents both a responsibility and an opportunity. By applying what is already known, and by working closely with partners and customers, the industry can make steady, practical progress towards lower-carbon fuels and chemicals. Markets that combine rapid demand growth with deep industrial capability, including India, will play an important role in determining how quickly lower-carbon fuels and chemicals move from ambition to large-scale delivery.
- Maurits van Tol, CEO of Catalyst Technologies at Johnson Matthey
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