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Tannins help in biphasic catalysis

04 Apr 2013

There are pros and cons to both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic strategies. One way to get the best of both worlds is to use aqueous-organic biphasic catalysis. This approach hasn’t been widely utilised so far due to interfacial resistance between the phases which causes a low catalytic activity.

Researchers in China have overcome this by using tannins from Black Wattle (an acacia tree species). The tannins “amphiphilicly” stabilise catalytic palladium nanoparticles enabling them to catalyse reactions in the organic phase whilst remaining in the aqueous phase for subsequent re-use, without loss of activity.

Read the full article here:

Using plant tannin as natural amphiphilic stabilizer to construct aqueous-organic biphasic system for highly active and selective hydrogenation of quinoline
Hui Mao, Jun Ma, Yang Liao, Shilin Zhao and Xuepin Liao
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, DOI:10.1039/C3CY00108C

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Catalytic self-cleaning oven glass

28 Mar 2013

Researchers from Belgium have developed a self-cleaning coating for oven windows. Of the available self-cleaning coatings, only a couple are optically transparent at working domestic oven temperatures and these require at least 3 hours of heating. Using manganese and manganese-ceria oxide coatings, the team of researchers discovered that an organic lipid contaminant could be oxidised within one hour to leave transparent, contaminant-free glass.

Read the full article below:

Catalytic self-cleaning coatings for thermal oxidation of organic deposits on glass
Julie E. Verhelst, Daniel Decroupet and Dirk E. De Vos

Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, DOI: 10.1039/C3CY20874E

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Capturing the potential of carbon dioxide

26 Feb 2013

Carbon dioxide is a problem. As a greenhouse gas it contributes towards global warming, and its ever-growing concentrations in the atmosphere are cited as a cause of anthropomorphic climate change. But now a team of researchers from the University of Bath have opened up the idea of using carbon dioxide as a useful potential feedstock; a useful chemical resource rather than a troublesome waste product.

Davide Mattia, who leads the research team, has taken inspiration from the well-known Fischer-Tropsh process, which uses an iron catalyst to react hydrogen with carbon monoxide, producing a mixture of alkanes that can be used as fuel. Mattia’s catalyst, which works with both carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, is also iron based, taking the form of iron nanoparticles embedded on carbon nanotubes. It has a rather unique method of preparation, which is not only simpler to carry out, but results in a more effective catalyst.

To read the full story, story please visit Chemistry World.

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Noble metal brings activity to tin oxide

20 Feb 2013

Posted on behalf of Sara Coles, Web-writer

James Wiswall and his colleagues, working with Professor Margaret Wooldridge at the University of Michigan, USA, have been studying catalytic propane combustion. This reaction has important implications for areas such as power generation (for example, integration of catalysts directly into the internal combustion engine combustion chamber) and removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from emissions.

The group used a stagnation-point flow reactor to study the catalytic activity of platinum, palladium, tin dioxide and 90 wt% SnO₂–10 wt% Pt for the combustion of propane under a variety of reaction conditions. Preliminary results suggest that the 90 wt% SnO₂–10 wt% Pt catalyst provides significant activity and has similar trends in activity as a function of stagnation-plane temperature to those of Pt and Pd, whereas pure SnO₂ shows no activity.

The researchers are optimistic that even better activity could be obtained if optimisation studies are carried out.

This development shows potential for Pt/SnO₂ to be used as a fuel oxidation catalyst. For more detail, read the full article:

An experimental investigation of catalytic oxidation of propane using temperature controlled Pt, Pd, SnO₂, and 90% SnO₂–10% Pt catalysts
J. T. Wiswall, M. S. Wooldridge and H. G. Im
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, 3, 618–625

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Industrial-scale enzyme catalysis a step closer

20 Feb 2013

Many biocatalysts require expensive co-factors when they are used in the production of industrially relevant compounds, but a team of UK chemists has replaced one such co-factor – nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) – with a smaller, more practical molecule: methyl viologen.

The production of cyclohexanone has been successfully catalysed using this method, combining methyl viologen with a biocatalyst enzyme in an electrochemical microfluidic set-up.

The work, published in Catalysis Science & Technology, represents the first time such enzyme-catalysed chemistry has been carried out without a co-factor, and presents a practical and economic route to its use in large-scale synthesis.

Read the article…

Electro-enzymatic viologen-mediated substrate reduction using pentaerythritol tetranitrate reductase and a parallel, segmented fluid flow system
Karl Fisher, Stephan Mohr, David Mansell, Nicholas J. Goddard, Peter R. Fielden and Nigel S. Scrutton

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Cheaper component for greenhouse gas reduction catalyst

10 Oct 2012

Scientists from China have replaced the tungsten oxide in a widely used greenhouse gas reduction catalyst with iron oxide, which improves the selectivity and reduces the cost of the catalyst.

Produced at any combustion site, nitrogen oxides (a mixture of NO and NO₂) – common greenhouse gases – are found anywhere from industrial sites to car exhausts and are regulated by a number of international agencies. As such, several catalytic reactions can be used to reduce the amount of nitrogen oxides produced. One of the most common is selective catalytic reduction (SCR), which converts nitrogen oxides into N₂ and H₂O using a reducing agent, commonly ammonia, and a catalyst.

Catalytic reactions are used to reduce nitrogen oxides (a mixture of NO and NO2 – common greenhouse gases) on industrial sites

To read the full article visit Chemistry World.

Substitution of WO₃ in V₂O₅/WO₃–TiO₂ by Fe₂O₃ for selective catalytic reduction of NO with NH₃
Shijian Yang, Chizhong Wang, Lei Ma, Yue Peng, Zan Qu, Naiqiang Yan, Jinghuan Chen, Huazhen Chang and Junhua Li
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2CY20383A

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Catalysis Science & Technology receives its first immediacy index!

03 Jul 2012

The 2011 Journal Citation Reports ® (Thomson Reuters, 2012) have been released and Catalysis Science & Technology has received its first immediacy index* of 0.588!

As a newly launched journal Catalysis Science & Technology won’t receive it’s first impact factor until next year.

We would like to thank all our authors, readers and referees who have contributed towards this success. Our thanks also go to our Editorial and Advisory Board Members and our Associate Editors for all their hard work and dedication to the journal!

We look forward to continued growth and success of the journal in the coming years!

A full list of RSC successes can be found at the RSC Impact Factor release.

For more information about Catalysis Science & Technology, including how to submit your research, check out the journal homepage.

*The Immediacy Index is a measure of how topical and urgent work published in a scientific journal is. It is measured by dividing the number of citations made to articles in a journal in a given year by the number of citeable articles published in the journal for the same year.

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Catalysis Science & Technology Blog

Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Top ten most accessed articles in March

Tannins help in biphasic catalysis

Catalytic self-cleaning oven glass

Capturing the potential of carbon dioxide

Noble metal brings activity to tin oxide

Industrial-scale enzyme catalysis a step closer

Cheaper component for greenhouse gas reduction catalyst

Top ten most accessed articles in August

Top ten most accessed articles in June

Catalysis Science & Technology receives its first immediacy index!

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