359 of excessive costs. This new process, first reported in McGraw-Hill's Biotechnology Newswatch of May 7th, will be used to produce 4,000 metric tons per year of acrlyamide from acrylonitrile. Unlike the conventional processes which use sulphuric acid or a copper catalyst to hydrate nitriles to amides by energy intensive routes, the new process is claimed by Nitto Chemicals to operate at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. The company says that the acrylamide produced by bacterial conversion is of adequate quality for paper and textile sizes and for enhanced oil recovery. Apart from the fermentation processes well-known to us all, this may represent the beginnings of the the industrial use of bioprocessing of commodity chemicals.
1985 Robert Catalysis
Burwell
Lecturer
in
The Board of Directors of the Catalysis Society of America have selected Professor W.M.H. Sachtler to be the 1985 Robert Burwell lecturer in Catalysis. Professor Sachtler has recently moved to North-Western University, following his retirement from the Royal Dutch Shell Laboratories in Amsterdam. The Robert Burwell Award, which is sponsorred by the Amoco Oil Company, is given biennially in oddnumbered years in recognition of substantial contributions to one or more areas in the field of catalysis, emphasis being placed on discovery and understanding of catalytic phenomena, catalytic reaction mechanisms and the identification and description of catalytic sites and species. The award includes not only a cash prize but also an amount of money which is available as travelling expenses to enable the recipient to lecture to as many as possible of the affiliated clubs and societies. Professor Sachtler will be invited to prepare a review paper covering the content of his lectures and this will subsequently be published.
American
Catalysis
Society
Awards
In addition to the awards presented to Professor Sachtler and Dr. Grasselli which are mentioned in separate items above, two other awards have been announced by regional groups of the _ awabh
- Volume 11 No. 2-3 - August 1984
American Catalysis Society, 'The Michigan Catalysis Society has initiated an "Award for Excellence in Catalysis Research and Development" intended for either academic or industrial workers who live in the Michigan-Indiana-Ohio area. This year's award winner is Professor Alan Brenner of Wayne State University who receives the award for his work on a technique for preparing highly dispersed metal catalysts from zero-valent carbonyls. The recipient of the 1984 Catalysis Club of Philadelphia Award, given in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the advancement of catalysis (scientific, technological or organisational), is Dr. James R. Katzer. Dr. Katzer joined Mobil in 1981 as Manager of the Catalyst Research Section in the Central Research Division located in Princeton, New Jersey. From February, 1984, he has been on a one-year assignment as a process group manager in the Process Research and Technical Service Division at the Paulsboro facility. Before joining Mobil, Katzer was director of the Centre for Catalytic Science and Technology at there University of Delaware. Activated
Carbon
A book with the title "Activated Carbon . ..a Fascinating Material" has recently been published by Norit N.V. of Amersfoort, The Netherlands. With a further sub-title "Some thoughts on activated carbon", this volume has been produced in honour of J.H. Veen on the occasion of his retirement as managing director of the company. Edited by A. Capelle and F. de Vooys, the book contains twelve papers by members of the staff of Norit on their work on active carbon carried out within Norit. These chapters cover subjects ranging from the processes taking place during activation of the carbon to the surface chemistry of the product. A short section also lists some unusual uses of active carbon which are suggested in the literature, including the idea that a cloud of active carbon might be used to obscure heat-emitting objects such as ships from the heat detecting equipment of others; the authors point out that although the idea will probably work, the result is likely to be a black ship! The editors express the hope that the book may become a valuable reference source to those working