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Catalysis and fruit preservation
263
runs of higher than 5000 km. It has also been shown that the catalyst can fix up to 20% of the lead. Johnson Matthey is also reported to have demonstrated their abilitv to reduce the concentration of harmful gases and particles emitted from diesel enoines. The article in Inqenieria Quimica concludes with a description of.the catalytic engine, a ioint develooment of Ricardo Enqineerino and Johnson Matthey which was featured . in an earlier issue of News Brief. IX Ibero-American
Symposium
on Catalysis
The full programme of this symposium has just been announced. The meeting is scheduled to last for six days, from 16th-21st July, and it will consist of eleven plenary lectures, nine invited papers, some 150 contributed papers and a poster session of a further 150 or so communications. The plenary lectures will be qiven by M. Boudart (Stanford University), J,B. Butt (Northwestern University), B, Delmon (Universi te Catholique de Louvain), G.F. Froment (Rijksuniversiteit Gent), R.K. Grasselli (Standard Oil, Cleveland), G. Martin0 (Institute Francais du Pitt-ole), G. Munuera fllniversitv of Seville), C. Naccache‘(Institute of Catalysis, Lyon), L. Riekart (University of Karlsruhe), P.J. Tait (UMIST, Manchester) and N. van Uden (New University of Lisbon), while the invited papers will include those to be given by P. Andreu (INTEVEP), Caracas), M. Baerns (Ruhr University, Bochuml. J.F.G. de la Banda (Institute of Cataiysis and Petrochemistry, Madrid), R. Candia (Haldor Topsde, Copenhagen), F. Dwyer (Mobil, Paulsboro), N.Giordano (Institute of Research on Chemical Methods and Processes for Transformation and Accumulation of Energy, Messina), N. Neth (BASF, Ludwigshafen), J.M. Parera (INCAPE, Santa Fg) and F. Traina (Montedison Group). There will be one or two plenary sessions per day and the contributed papers will be oresented in four parallel sessions. The proceedings of the symposium, containing the full texts of the plenary lectures, accepted contributed oaoers and the communications. will be provided'to participants prior to the meeting. It is hoped to publish a report on the meeting in a future issue of Applied Catalysis. Catalysis
and Fruit Preservation
A recent report on the BBC programme "Farming Today" described the
ilwlldcrblyrb- Volume 10 No. 2 -May
1984
use of catalysts consisting of finely divided Pt supported on a ceramic material in a process which greatly prolongs the life of fruit such as apples. Apples, we were told, produce ethylene which, if left in contact with the fruit, accelerates the ripening and ageing process. Current methods of avoiding the problem generally involve the generation of an inert gas which sweeps the ethylene out of the storage chambers. The new process, developed by Dr. Michael Mead of the U.K. Fruit Research Institute, involves a system which sucks the air through a heater, then over the catalyst where the ethylene is oxidised, and finally through a heat exchanger associated with the heater. So far, only stationary systems have been used but mobile systems are also possible.
Reactivation of Catalysts critical Fluids
by Super-
A recent report in Chem.Tech. (January 1984, p.51) has allerted us to an earlier paper by H. Tilscher and his group (Angew.Chem., Int.Ed., 20 (1981) 892) in which they reported that supercritical fluids could be used to reactivate an Al203 catalyst used for the isomerisation of 1-hexane with 2-chlorohexane as cocatalyst. When the catalyst had been deactivated under either gaseous or liquid-phase reaction conditions, it could be reqenerated simolv by raising the pressure to a cricitai value of 500 bar. The reaction solution turned dark brown, the colouration being found to be due to large quantities of oligomers ranging from CI2 to C30. When the reaction conditions were returned to normal, the previous conversion values were obtained. The catalyst could also be poisoned by MoS2 but this poisoning also could easily be reversed by the supercritical treatment. This reactivation method is claimed to have a number of advantages, not the least being that relatively mild conditions are required and that no foreign substances need to be added to the reaction system. Synthesis
of Secondary
Butanol
It has been reported in Chemical Week (11 Jan. 1984, p.32) that Deutsche Texaco have claimed to be able to bring about direct hydration of normal butene to secondary butylalcohol. The catalyst used has not been identified but the process has been claimed to be a consi-
runs of higher than 5000 km. It has also been shown that the catalyst can fix up to 20% of the lead. Johnson Matthey is also reported to have demonstrated their abilitv to reduce the concentration of harmful gases and particles emitted from diesel enoines. The article in Inqenieria Quimica concludes with a description of.the catalytic engine, a ioint develooment of Ricardo Enqineerino and Johnson Matthey which was featured . in an earlier issue of News Brief. IX Ibero-American
Symposium
on Catalysis
The full programme of this symposium has just been announced. The meeting is scheduled to last for six days, from 16th-21st July, and it will consist of eleven plenary lectures, nine invited papers, some 150 contributed papers and a poster session of a further 150 or so communications. The plenary lectures will be qiven by M. Boudart (Stanford University), J,B. Butt (Northwestern University), B, Delmon (Universi te Catholique de Louvain), G.F. Froment (Rijksuniversiteit Gent), R.K. Grasselli (Standard Oil, Cleveland), G. Martin0 (Institute Francais du Pitt-ole), G. Munuera fllniversitv of Seville), C. Naccache‘(Institute of Catalysis, Lyon), L. Riekart (University of Karlsruhe), P.J. Tait (UMIST, Manchester) and N. van Uden (New University of Lisbon), while the invited papers will include those to be given by P. Andreu (INTEVEP), Caracas), M. Baerns (Ruhr University, Bochuml. J.F.G. de la Banda (Institute of Cataiysis and Petrochemistry, Madrid), R. Candia (Haldor Topsde, Copenhagen), F. Dwyer (Mobil, Paulsboro), N.Giordano (Institute of Research on Chemical Methods and Processes for Transformation and Accumulation of Energy, Messina), N. Neth (BASF, Ludwigshafen), J.M. Parera (INCAPE, Santa Fg) and F. Traina (Montedison Group). There will be one or two plenary sessions per day and the contributed papers will be oresented in four parallel sessions. The proceedings of the symposium, containing the full texts of the plenary lectures, accepted contributed oaoers and the communications. will be provided'to participants prior to the meeting. It is hoped to publish a report on the meeting in a future issue of Applied Catalysis. Catalysis
and Fruit Preservation
A recent report on the BBC programme "Farming Today" described the
ilwlldcrblyrb- Volume 10 No. 2 -May
1984
use of catalysts consisting of finely divided Pt supported on a ceramic material in a process which greatly prolongs the life of fruit such as apples. Apples, we were told, produce ethylene which, if left in contact with the fruit, accelerates the ripening and ageing process. Current methods of avoiding the problem generally involve the generation of an inert gas which sweeps the ethylene out of the storage chambers. The new process, developed by Dr. Michael Mead of the U.K. Fruit Research Institute, involves a system which sucks the air through a heater, then over the catalyst where the ethylene is oxidised, and finally through a heat exchanger associated with the heater. So far, only stationary systems have been used but mobile systems are also possible.
Reactivation of Catalysts critical Fluids
by Super-
A recent report in Chem.Tech. (January 1984, p.51) has allerted us to an earlier paper by H. Tilscher and his group (Angew.Chem., Int.Ed., 20 (1981) 892) in which they reported that supercritical fluids could be used to reactivate an Al203 catalyst used for the isomerisation of 1-hexane with 2-chlorohexane as cocatalyst. When the catalyst had been deactivated under either gaseous or liquid-phase reaction conditions, it could be reqenerated simolv by raising the pressure to a cricitai value of 500 bar. The reaction solution turned dark brown, the colouration being found to be due to large quantities of oligomers ranging from CI2 to C30. When the reaction conditions were returned to normal, the previous conversion values were obtained. The catalyst could also be poisoned by MoS2 but this poisoning also could easily be reversed by the supercritical treatment. This reactivation method is claimed to have a number of advantages, not the least being that relatively mild conditions are required and that no foreign substances need to be added to the reaction system. Synthesis
of Secondary
Butanol
It has been reported in Chemical Week (11 Jan. 1984, p.32) that Deutsche Texaco have claimed to be able to bring about direct hydration of normal butene to secondary butylalcohol. The catalyst used has not been identified but the process has been claimed to be a consi-