The new plant, which has generated 128 new jobs and has initial capacity to produce four million units annually, has been constructed in the Bunardjick Technological and Industrial Development Zone, 15km from the Macedonian capital, Skopje.
The new plant has been built to a modular design and the initial phase will incorporate automated production lines for both light duty diesel autocatalysts and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalysts for heavy duty diesel vehicles.
SCR utilizes catalysts to reduce emissions of oxides of nitrogen, commonly referred to as NOx, from diesel vehicle exhaust. SCR systems are used on heavy duty diesel vehicles in Europe to meet Euro IV and V heavy duty diesel emissions standards that came into force in the European Union in 2006 and 2009 respectively.
The recent plant is an addition to Johnson Matthey’ s portfolio of emission control catalyst plants across the world. The company has 15 manufacturing plants in Europe, the US, Asia, South America and Africa.
Larry Pentz, executive director of environmental technologies division at Johnson Matthey, said: ”We wanted this plant to be the first of a new global design for Johnson Matthey and I believe you are standing in the finest, most advanced emission control catalyst production facility that exists anywhere in the world.”
