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MIT researchers find coating method for improved catalytic activity
FOCUS the process using Honeywell UOP's pilot plant technology. Honeywell UOP provided the basic engineering, key equipment, adsorbents and technical support for the new unit. The MaxEne process separates full-range naphtha into a stream rich in normal paraffins, and a second stream of iso-paraffins, naphthenes and aromatics. The process results in up to a 40% higher yield of ethylene from an existing naphtha cracker without loss in propylene. Original Source: PetroChemical News, 9 May 2016, 54 (18), 1 (Website: http://www. petrochemical-news.com) ( William F. Bland Co.NB2016
India’s first second generation ethanol plant opens in Uttarakhand On 22 Apr 2016, India's Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Ministry opened the nation's first secondgeneration (2G) ethanol demonstration unit at Indian Glycols Ltd's site in Kashipur, Uttarakhand. The facility converts 10 tonnes/d of ligno-cellulosic biomass into 750,000 L/y of ethanol using a technology developed by the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) Mumbai, supported by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC). Oriiginal Source: Chemical Weekly, 3 May 2016, 150 (Website: http://www. chemicalweekly.com) ( Sevak Publications & Chemical Weekly Database P Ltd 2016
Improved tech can cut emissions India's Oil Ministry will rely on technology to attain its goals, namely full compliance to BS-VI fuel norms by 2020 and the reduction of CO2 emissions and oil imports by 10%. Ministry representatives were present at the launch of Honeywell UOP's $5 M pilot recycle hydrocracker in Gurugram, which enables low-cost, small-scale testing and development of refinery technologies. Original Source: The Hindu, 24 May 2016, 6 (123), 15 (Website: http://www.thehindu.com) ( The Hindu 2016.
NEW TECHNOLOGY Jet fuel from non-edible vegetable oils Researchers from the CSIR-IIP have developed a non-precious metal based catalyst that can be used in a one-step conversion of plant oils to biofuels for aviation. The catalyst is reusable, stable and has good performance even after a number of regenerations. It can facilitate deep isomerization, selective cracking and
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complete deoxygenation. In the new catalytic process, the Bio-jet Fuel features negligible sulfur content, resulting in minute SOx emissions. The product features aromatics and other hydrocarbons, and fulfills the needed standard ASTM D1655 and ASTM D 4054 specifications. Byproducts of the process are diesel and gasoline, which can be employed in land transportation and mixed with mineralbased diesel and gasoline, respectively. Other valuable by-products include lowsulfur LPG (propane), high cetane renewable diesel and high-octane gasoline. The resulting diesel fuel from the catalytic process has over 100 cetane value, and leads to 16% reduction in HC emissions, 5% in CO, 24% in SOx and 5% in NOx.
was put through 10,000 electrochemical cycles, the new design still performed 10 times better than conventional nanoparticles after similar cycling. Yet another gain is that these nanoparticles are highly resistant to 'poisoning' of the surface by carbon monoxide. On the core-shell catalysts, the carbon monoxide detaches more easily. While traditional hydrogen fuel cell catalysts can only tolerate 10 parts per million (ppm) of carbon monoxide, the researchers found that their core-shell catalysts could tolerate up to 1000 ppm. Lastly, the researchers found that the coreshell structure was stable at high temperatures under various types of reaction conditions, while also remaining resistant to particle clumping
Original Source: Chemical Engineering World, May 2016, 51 (5), 20-21 (Website: http:// www.cewindia.com) © Jasubhai Group 2016.
Original Source: MIT, 2016. Found on SpecialChem Coatings and Inks Formulation, 24 May 2016, (Website: http://www. specialchem4coatings.com)
MIT researchers find coating method for improved catalytic activity
Tomato waste turned into electricity
Researchers at MIT have found a way to get the same amount of catalytic activity with as little as one-tenth the amount of precious metal. The key is to use an atomically-thin coating of noble metal over a tiny particle made of a much more abundant and inexpensive material, a kind of ceramic called transition metal carbide. As a bonus, the coated particles actually outperform conventional catalysts (made completely of noble metal nanoparticles), providing greater longevity and better resistance to many unwanted phenomena that plague traditional noble metal catalysts. Since only the surface of catalytic particles is involved in accelerating a reaction, substituting the bulk of the particle with an inexpensive core can lead to drastic reductions in noble metal use without sacrificing performance. The key breakthrough was to encapsulate the shell and core material precursors into a template made from silica. This keeps them close together during the heat treatment, making them self-assemble into core-shell structures, conveniently solving both challenges at the same time. The silica template could then be dissolved away using a simple room-temperature acidic treatment. The reluctance of noble metals to bind to other materials means it is possible to self-assemble incredibly complex catalytic designs with multiple precious metal elements present in the shell and multiple inexpensive elements present in the carbide core. This allowed the researchers to fine-tune the properties of the catalysts for different applications. For instance, using a nanoparticle with a platinum and ruthenium shell coating a carbide core made of tungsten and titanium, they designed a highly active and stable catalyst for possible applications in direct methanol fuel cells. After the catalyst
Scientists at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in the US have developed a microbial electrochemical cell that runs through tomato waste to produce electricity. Bacteria are utilized in the device to breakdown and oxidize organic material in tomato waste. Fuel cells capture the electrons produced in the oxidation process. According to the researchers, the current power generated from this new device is not very impressive, with only 0.3 W of electricity produced from 10 mg of tomato waste. Florida generates 360,000 tonnes/y of tomato waste, which is enough to power Disney World for 90 days using an optimized microbial fuel cell. Original Source: Chemistry World, May 2016, 13 (5), (Website: http://www.rsc.org/ chemistryworld) © Royal Society of Chemistry 2016.
Microbial fuel cells brew lowalcohol beer Hungarian experts at Corvinus University have utilized microbial fuel cells (MFCs) to produce low-alcohol beer and small amounts of electricity. A 24 sq cm anode produced beer with ethanol content of nearly 2.1 V/V% and current of 12.5 mA/ sq m, while adding 100 mcM of riboflavin reduced the ethanol content to 1.5 V/V% but raised the current to 86.4 mA/sq m. Original Souce: TCE (formerly The Chemical Engineer), May 2016, (899), 21 (Website: http://www.tcetoday.com) © Institution of Chemical Engineers 2016.
Phosphorus atoms stabilize chromium catalyst A new chromium catalyst, surrounded partially by a ring structure that contains phosphorus atoms that could be used to
July 2016
India’s first second generation ethanol plant opens in Uttarakhand On 22 Apr 2016, India's Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Ministry opened the nation's first secondgeneration (2G) ethanol demonstration unit at Indian Glycols Ltd's site in Kashipur, Uttarakhand. The facility converts 10 tonnes/d of ligno-cellulosic biomass into 750,000 L/y of ethanol using a technology developed by the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) Mumbai, supported by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC). Oriiginal Source: Chemical Weekly, 3 May 2016, 150 (Website: http://www. chemicalweekly.com) ( Sevak Publications & Chemical Weekly Database P Ltd 2016
Improved tech can cut emissions India's Oil Ministry will rely on technology to attain its goals, namely full compliance to BS-VI fuel norms by 2020 and the reduction of CO2 emissions and oil imports by 10%. Ministry representatives were present at the launch of Honeywell UOP's $5 M pilot recycle hydrocracker in Gurugram, which enables low-cost, small-scale testing and development of refinery technologies. Original Source: The Hindu, 24 May 2016, 6 (123), 15 (Website: http://www.thehindu.com) ( The Hindu 2016.
NEW TECHNOLOGY Jet fuel from non-edible vegetable oils Researchers from the CSIR-IIP have developed a non-precious metal based catalyst that can be used in a one-step conversion of plant oils to biofuels for aviation. The catalyst is reusable, stable and has good performance even after a number of regenerations. It can facilitate deep isomerization, selective cracking and
6
ON
C ATA LY S T S
complete deoxygenation. In the new catalytic process, the Bio-jet Fuel features negligible sulfur content, resulting in minute SOx emissions. The product features aromatics and other hydrocarbons, and fulfills the needed standard ASTM D1655 and ASTM D 4054 specifications. Byproducts of the process are diesel and gasoline, which can be employed in land transportation and mixed with mineralbased diesel and gasoline, respectively. Other valuable by-products include lowsulfur LPG (propane), high cetane renewable diesel and high-octane gasoline. The resulting diesel fuel from the catalytic process has over 100 cetane value, and leads to 16% reduction in HC emissions, 5% in CO, 24% in SOx and 5% in NOx.
was put through 10,000 electrochemical cycles, the new design still performed 10 times better than conventional nanoparticles after similar cycling. Yet another gain is that these nanoparticles are highly resistant to 'poisoning' of the surface by carbon monoxide. On the core-shell catalysts, the carbon monoxide detaches more easily. While traditional hydrogen fuel cell catalysts can only tolerate 10 parts per million (ppm) of carbon monoxide, the researchers found that their core-shell catalysts could tolerate up to 1000 ppm. Lastly, the researchers found that the coreshell structure was stable at high temperatures under various types of reaction conditions, while also remaining resistant to particle clumping
Original Source: Chemical Engineering World, May 2016, 51 (5), 20-21 (Website: http:// www.cewindia.com) © Jasubhai Group 2016.
Original Source: MIT, 2016. Found on SpecialChem Coatings and Inks Formulation, 24 May 2016, (Website: http://www. specialchem4coatings.com)
MIT researchers find coating method for improved catalytic activity
Tomato waste turned into electricity
Researchers at MIT have found a way to get the same amount of catalytic activity with as little as one-tenth the amount of precious metal. The key is to use an atomically-thin coating of noble metal over a tiny particle made of a much more abundant and inexpensive material, a kind of ceramic called transition metal carbide. As a bonus, the coated particles actually outperform conventional catalysts (made completely of noble metal nanoparticles), providing greater longevity and better resistance to many unwanted phenomena that plague traditional noble metal catalysts. Since only the surface of catalytic particles is involved in accelerating a reaction, substituting the bulk of the particle with an inexpensive core can lead to drastic reductions in noble metal use without sacrificing performance. The key breakthrough was to encapsulate the shell and core material precursors into a template made from silica. This keeps them close together during the heat treatment, making them self-assemble into core-shell structures, conveniently solving both challenges at the same time. The silica template could then be dissolved away using a simple room-temperature acidic treatment. The reluctance of noble metals to bind to other materials means it is possible to self-assemble incredibly complex catalytic designs with multiple precious metal elements present in the shell and multiple inexpensive elements present in the carbide core. This allowed the researchers to fine-tune the properties of the catalysts for different applications. For instance, using a nanoparticle with a platinum and ruthenium shell coating a carbide core made of tungsten and titanium, they designed a highly active and stable catalyst for possible applications in direct methanol fuel cells. After the catalyst
Scientists at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in the US have developed a microbial electrochemical cell that runs through tomato waste to produce electricity. Bacteria are utilized in the device to breakdown and oxidize organic material in tomato waste. Fuel cells capture the electrons produced in the oxidation process. According to the researchers, the current power generated from this new device is not very impressive, with only 0.3 W of electricity produced from 10 mg of tomato waste. Florida generates 360,000 tonnes/y of tomato waste, which is enough to power Disney World for 90 days using an optimized microbial fuel cell. Original Source: Chemistry World, May 2016, 13 (5), (Website: http://www.rsc.org/ chemistryworld) © Royal Society of Chemistry 2016.
Microbial fuel cells brew lowalcohol beer Hungarian experts at Corvinus University have utilized microbial fuel cells (MFCs) to produce low-alcohol beer and small amounts of electricity. A 24 sq cm anode produced beer with ethanol content of nearly 2.1 V/V% and current of 12.5 mA/ sq m, while adding 100 mcM of riboflavin reduced the ethanol content to 1.5 V/V% but raised the current to 86.4 mA/sq m. Original Souce: TCE (formerly The Chemical Engineer), May 2016, (899), 21 (Website: http://www.tcetoday.com) © Institution of Chemical Engineers 2016.
Phosphorus atoms stabilize chromium catalyst A new chromium catalyst, surrounded partially by a ring structure that contains phosphorus atoms that could be used to
July 2016