chevron

N21

Group and key papers were given by Air

metals is less pronounced

Products,

ming. Rhodium and ruthenium show high

CDTECH, Catalyst Consultants

for COa refor-

Inc., Dow, Mobil, Phillips Petroleum, Lyon-

selectivity for carbon-free

dell

lar results can be seen on sulphur-passi-

Licensing,

Rohm

and

search

Haas,

and

Chemicals

Raytheon

E&C/Badger,

UOP, Chemicals

Licensing

Enichem,

ReFina

and Contract Chemicals.

Simi-

vated nickel, but higher temperatures be used to compensate activity.

Even though

cheaper

than rhodium,

(Source: Catalyst Review Newsletter Oc-

ruthenium

tober 1993)

mercial exploitation

must

for lower intrinsic ruthenium

is much

the availability

of

is very restricted so that com-

specific application News on a New Solid Alkylation

operation.

of the metal for this seems unlikely.

Cata-

lyst from CDTECH/Chevron

lsomorphous Substitution of Be’+ into ZSM-5

CDTECH has announced

that it will in-

stall a 10 BPD pilot plant at Chevron’s

Port

A recent report [Han et al., J. Chem.

Arthur, Texas site in late October. The new

Sot., Chem. Commun.

process

Mobil describes what is believed to be the

uses tailored

SbF5 catalyst

stead of HF or H2S04. According mation

from

CDTECH

the

treated to a “less agressive”

in-

to infor-

catalyst

is

state allowing

longer life.

first reported inserted

(1993) 12871 from

instance of tetrahedral

into a zeolite

modfication.

Be’+

by post-synthesis

Ammonium

tetrafluorobe-

ryllate is used as the Be’+

source

and

ZSM-5 was treated with a suitable aqueous (Source: Catalyst Review Newsletter Oc-

solution at 85°C for 18 h. No attempts were

tober 1993)

made to characterize

which metal ion the

Be’+ substituted for, in part because of the Carbon Dioxide-Methane

low extent of insertion. The Be content was

Reforming

analyzed

over Transition Metals

as 130 ppm. The paper empha-

sises the toxic From the laboratories

of Haldor-Topsee

comes a very useful comparative

study of

the metals Ni, Ru, Rh, Pd, lr and Pt for the C02-reforming

of methane

M.S. SCURRELL

Haldor Topsse

of steam by carbon di-

oxide has no drastic effect on the reaction mechanism.

of the beryllium

[Rostrup-Niel-

sen and Bak Hansen, J. Catal., 144 (1993) 381. Replacement

nature

source.

Lower

reaction

rates

are

Haldor Topsse had his 86th birthday in May 1993. He still is managing

Haldor

seen, but even this has little practical effect

Topsae A/S with much energy and moti-

since the reverse shift reaction will quickly

vating spirit. This company

ensure that steam is available for the faster

Denmark and deals on a world scale with

steam reforming

catalysts and catalytic processes. The ex-

observed

route. The activity trend

for steam reforming with ruthe-

nium and rhodium bearing the most active applied catalysis A: General

istence of such a company

is located

in “small Den-

mark” does not fit the economic Volume 107 No. 2 -

in

models in

6 January 1994