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Titania photocatalysis enmired
FOCUS ON C A T A L Y S T S A MONTHLY REPORT FROM ALAN E COMYNS JULY 2005 In this issue
MARKETS AND BUSINESS
TITANIA PHOTOCATALYSIS ENMIRED 1-2
Japanese catalyst production up 7% in 2004 White biotech should expand fivefold in 10-20 years
COMPANY NEWS
2-5
Catalytica Energy Systems still losing Engelhard buys Chinese catalyst business Novozymes cuts biomass enzyme cost Grace Davison makes strong gains
NEW PLANTS
5-6
First CCR unit commissioned
NEW TECHNOLOGY
6-7
Chiral polytungstate synthesised New catalyst for ultra-low sulfur diesel Electricity stimulates bacteria to make hydrogen
ENVIRONMENT
AN INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER MONITORING TECHNICAL AND COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND USE OF CATALYSTS ISSN 1351–4180
7
Englehard substitutes some Pd for Pt in auto-cats
PATENTS
7
BOOKSHELF
7
EVENTS
8
Seven years ago1 I wrote an editorial on titania photocatalysis, a topic very popular with physical chemists and environmental chemists but largely ignored by chemical engineers and industrial companies. The latest issue of Catalysis Today2 reports on the “Third European Meeting on Solar Chemistry and Photocatalysis: Environmental Applications”, held in Barcelona in July 2004. The editors have selected 27 of the 139 contributions to this meeting, as representing “a good overview of the state of the art of photocatalysis, covering a variety of aspects of these applications...”. Actually, 25 of the selected papers described work in aqueous systems, so work on gaseous systems (which are the only ones presently commercialised) was not reported. Twenty of the twenty seven papers reported work using Degussa’s P-25. I have no quarrel with the use of P-25, it is a fine, wellestablished product (albeit a mixture, which makes it undesirable for fundamental work). But it would have been refreshing to have learnt about the photochemical products of some of Degussa’s competitors (Sachtleben, Millennium Chemicals, Showa Denko, Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha – see their websites) in these applications: who is using them? In 1998 I wrote that “chemists rearranging the deck chairs on the SS Titania are ignoring the real problems”. None of the 27 papers in the Barcelona meeting addressed the engineering problems. So, apart from the small-scale adoption of gas-phase photocatalytic systems for air
treatment in Japan, nothing has really changed in six years. Perhaps the missing factor is commercial incentive. There is no doubt that photochemical systems could be engineered, using either suspended or supported titania, which would effectively decontaminate water, chemically and biologically. The challenge is to identify a current problem where a catalytic solution might justify its cost, and then to persuade a commercial company (or a national laboratory) to engineer it. A successful demonstration plant would lift photochemical titania out of its present rut. Alan E. Comyns 1 Focus on Catalysts, Feb 1998, 2 2 Catalysis Today, 15 Apr 2005, 101 (3-4)
MARKETS AND BUSINESS Japanese catalyst statistics, 2004 A table from METI gives details of production, volume, and value sales of catalysts in Japan in 2004. They are broken down by industrial use and pollution control applications. Production rose 7.0% to 98,620 tonne/y with volume sales increasing 5.0% to 98,617 tonne/y. Sales value was up 13% to Yen 232,405 M. The largest volume items were for petroleum refining (45,027 tonnes), polymerization (16,329 tonnes), and auto-exhaust (14,690 tonnes). In
CATALYSTS CATALYSTS CATALYSTS CATALYSTS CATALYSTS CATALYSTS
MARKETS AND BUSINESS
TITANIA PHOTOCATALYSIS ENMIRED 1-2
Japanese catalyst production up 7% in 2004 White biotech should expand fivefold in 10-20 years
COMPANY NEWS
2-5
Catalytica Energy Systems still losing Engelhard buys Chinese catalyst business Novozymes cuts biomass enzyme cost Grace Davison makes strong gains
NEW PLANTS
5-6
First CCR unit commissioned
NEW TECHNOLOGY
6-7
Chiral polytungstate synthesised New catalyst for ultra-low sulfur diesel Electricity stimulates bacteria to make hydrogen
ENVIRONMENT
AN INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER MONITORING TECHNICAL AND COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND USE OF CATALYSTS ISSN 1351–4180
7
Englehard substitutes some Pd for Pt in auto-cats
PATENTS
7
BOOKSHELF
7
EVENTS
8
Seven years ago1 I wrote an editorial on titania photocatalysis, a topic very popular with physical chemists and environmental chemists but largely ignored by chemical engineers and industrial companies. The latest issue of Catalysis Today2 reports on the “Third European Meeting on Solar Chemistry and Photocatalysis: Environmental Applications”, held in Barcelona in July 2004. The editors have selected 27 of the 139 contributions to this meeting, as representing “a good overview of the state of the art of photocatalysis, covering a variety of aspects of these applications...”. Actually, 25 of the selected papers described work in aqueous systems, so work on gaseous systems (which are the only ones presently commercialised) was not reported. Twenty of the twenty seven papers reported work using Degussa’s P-25. I have no quarrel with the use of P-25, it is a fine, wellestablished product (albeit a mixture, which makes it undesirable for fundamental work). But it would have been refreshing to have learnt about the photochemical products of some of Degussa’s competitors (Sachtleben, Millennium Chemicals, Showa Denko, Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha – see their websites) in these applications: who is using them? In 1998 I wrote that “chemists rearranging the deck chairs on the SS Titania are ignoring the real problems”. None of the 27 papers in the Barcelona meeting addressed the engineering problems. So, apart from the small-scale adoption of gas-phase photocatalytic systems for air
treatment in Japan, nothing has really changed in six years. Perhaps the missing factor is commercial incentive. There is no doubt that photochemical systems could be engineered, using either suspended or supported titania, which would effectively decontaminate water, chemically and biologically. The challenge is to identify a current problem where a catalytic solution might justify its cost, and then to persuade a commercial company (or a national laboratory) to engineer it. A successful demonstration plant would lift photochemical titania out of its present rut. Alan E. Comyns 1 Focus on Catalysts, Feb 1998, 2 2 Catalysis Today, 15 Apr 2005, 101 (3-4)
MARKETS AND BUSINESS Japanese catalyst statistics, 2004 A table from METI gives details of production, volume, and value sales of catalysts in Japan in 2004. They are broken down by industrial use and pollution control applications. Production rose 7.0% to 98,620 tonne/y with volume sales increasing 5.0% to 98,617 tonne/y. Sales value was up 13% to Yen 232,405 M. The largest volume items were for petroleum refining (45,027 tonnes), polymerization (16,329 tonnes), and auto-exhaust (14,690 tonnes). In
CATALYSTS CATALYSTS CATALYSTS CATALYSTS CATALYSTS CATALYSTS