Supported by the Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers, the £2,000 prize rewards excellence in materials engineering by an engineer in the UK. Professor Hutchings received the award from Mike Goulette FREng, Past Master of the Armourers and Brasiers, at the annual Fellows’ Day held at Prince Philip House in London on 8 May.
While working in industry in South Africa in the 1980s, on secondment from his first job at ICI, Graham Hutchings was shocked to find that toxic mercury catalysts were being used to convert acetylene to vinyl chloride monomer, a key step in the production of PVC plastic. Gold was previously considered to be catalytically inactive but Hutchings predicted – and later confirmed by experiment – that gold could work as a catalyst for acetylene hydrochlorination. This insight opened up a whole new field of catalysis based on supported gold.
In the US and Europe, mercury-catalysed processes have been superseded by more economical and greener processes based on ethylene. However, the acetylene route is still widely used in China.
Through a research partnership with Johnson Matthey, Professor Hutchings’ gold catalyst formulation has been refined so it can be used commercially and manufactured sustainably at large scale. Johnson Matthey’s PRICAT™ Mercury Free Catalyst is now fully commercialised and in operation at multiple factories in China.
Based on the successful rollout of this mercury-free catalyst, China ratified the Minamata convention in 2016 and one year later the convention was written into International Law signalling the end of the use of mercury in all applications globally. For new acetylene-based plants, mercury is now banned and existing producers will have to replace their mercury catalyst within five years. This will allow mercury to be phased out before the mandatory ending of mercury mining in 2032.
Professor Hutchings and his team at the Cardiff Catalysis Institute have also pioneered the use of gold as a catalyst in many other reactions, including a new way of purifying water, offering exciting possibilities for addressing water shortage in arid areas.
Luke Logan FREng, Chair of the Royal Academy of Engineering Awards Committee, says:
“Professor Hutchings’ research enabled the commercialisation of gold as a catalyst and represents the first time in over 50 years that there has been a complete change in catalyst formulation for the manufacture of a commodity chemical. Replacing mercury catalysts with gold will prevent over 1000 tons per year of mercury being emitted to the environment.”
Receiving the prize, Professor Graham Hutchings says:
"It's a real honour to have our work on gold catalysis recognised with this award from the Academy. Of course, these milestones are not achieved alone and so I accept it on behalf of the team of people who have made the innovation happen. Not least of which, our partners in industry.
"It's these types of relationships between researchers and practitioners that are so crucial for unpicking some of the grand challenges of our time. Our work replacing mercury with gold as a catalyst for PVC manufacture will deliver immense benefits for society and so it's gratifying that the Academy has recognised its importance with the Armourers and Brasiers Company Prize."
Professor Graham Hutchings CBE FREng FRS receives the 2025 Armourers and Brasiers Prize
Notes for editors
- For more on Professor Graham Hutchings’ work on gold-based catalysts see: https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/research/impact-and-innovation/meet-our-innovators/graham-hutchings
- The RAEng Armourers and Brasiers Company Prize is a biennial prize awarded to an individual, based in the UK, for excellence in materials engineering demonstrated by the successful application of novel materials science and technology in practical engineering systems. A cash prize of £2,000 is made to the winner. The prize was established with kind support from the Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers, one of the largest private sponsors of education and research in materials science in the UK.
- The Royal Academy of Engineering creates and leads a community of outstanding experts and innovators to engineer better lives. As a charity and a Fellowship, we deliver public benefit from excellence in engineering and technology and convene leading businesspeople, entrepreneurs, innovators and academics across engineering and technology. As a National Academy, we provide leadership for engineering and technology, and independent, expert advice to policymakers in the UK and beyond.