Research and innovation is a team sport. Shepherd’s R&D team and network of universities, institutions and industry partners all bring unique skills and perspectives to collectively advance the business of metal chemistry and solve real-world problems.

“What is this stuff, anyway?”

At Shepherd Chemical, we are experts in our products and processes. Understanding the correlation between the molecular structures of our products and their activities and macroscopic properties is crucial to this endeavor. We are able to design innovative processes to maximize the desired properties by selecting the molecular structures that generate those properties.

• Collaborated with a theoretical chemist in academia and a scientist at Argonne National Lab, our paper in the Journal of Physical Chemistry focuses on the interplay between structure and properties in zinc 2-ethylhexanoate.
• Collaborated with theoretical chemists from academia and scientists from Argonne National Lab on a research paper for Catalyst Today, focusing on the structural investigation of cerium octoate and bismuth carboxylates.

“How can we use this stuff?”

At Shepherd Chemical, we are involved in a variety of markets. In order to fully serve these markets, we must have good data around the performance of our products in their chosen applications. We work with partners to develop the appropriate data for each of our markets, which then feeds back into the molecular and process designs.

• Anhydrous Chromium Octoate – Worked together with industry partners, academia for calculations, and the government (Argonne) on a Dalton Transactions paper and a CP Chem patent.
• Molybdenum Zeolite (methane dehydroaromatization catalyst) – Filed a patent application after collaborating with key partners, including the government’s Idaho National Lab, and academic institutions Virginia Tech and Texas Tech.
• BiCAT – Hydrolytically stable bismuth catalysts, which were the subject of papers from CPI (Center for the Polyurethanes Industry) as well as Shepherd’s first patent, were developed in collaboration with the industry partner Honeywell. Shepherd was awarded the 2016 Polyurethane Innovation Award for our hydrolytically stable BiCAT products. (CPI 2016 paper, CPI 2017 paper, CPI 2018 paper)
• Spherical Copper Carbonate XL – Worked with our industry partner Invista to design SCC XL with enhanced performance, optimized surface area, and limited fracturing during the BYD manufacturing process. SCC Case Study
• Basic Copper Nitrate (BCN) – A coating of something as simple as sugar allows BCN to retain its surface area upon ageing, a known failure mode in airbag inflator technology. Customers have tested it and found it to be suitable for the application. BCN Paper 2022, BCN Patent Application, Airbag 2018 Paper
• BiLUBEs – Application testing and characterization showed that bismuth carboxylate BiLUBEs plus sulfur-bearing additives leads to formation of layered Bi2S3, which probably provides the good high-pressure performance observed. Tribology Transactions paper
• AFEV (Advanced Fluids for Electrified Vehicles) – insight into the needs and requirement for electrical vehicle fluids

“How can we make this stuff better?”

At Shepherd Chemical, we are focused on continuous improvement. With a deep understanding of our products and processes, coupled with the needs of our markets, we are constantly striving for the perfect process to deliver custom solutions to our customers.

• Molybdenum Octoate – working with an industry partner to increase space yield and eliminate waste
• Cerium Octoate – working to improve yield and reduce waste
• Nickel Octoate – reduce cycle time

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