Green Chemistry Blog

Green Chemistry issue 4 is now online and you can read it here.

The cover features work by François Jérôme and co-workers from France.  Their Paper, ‘Pretreatment of microcrystalline cellulose by ultrasounds: effect of particle size in the heterogeneously-catalyzed hydrolysis of cellulose to glucose’ demonstrates that activity of a sulfonated carbon in the heterogeneously-catalyzed hydrolysis of cellulose was greatly improved by assistance of ultrasound. The paper demonstrates that the sonication method was as effective as conventional pre-treatments such as ball-milling or ionic liquids.

Pretreatment of microcrystalline cellulose by ultrasounds: effect of particle size in the heterogeneously-catalyzed hydrolysis of cellulose to glucose
Qinghua Zhang, Maud Benoit, Karine De Oliveira Vigier, Joël Barrault, Gwenaëlle Jégou, Michel Philippe and François Jérôme, Green Chem., 2013, 15, 963-969

The inside front cover highlights a review article entitled ‘Green chemistry and the ocean-based biorefinery’ by Fran Kerton and co-workers at the Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada.  This review highlights that competition for land use could be minimized if marine sourced feedstocks were used for chemicals and materials production rather than crops grown on fertile land. It focuses on achievements and potential opportunities surrounding the use of algae and waste from shellfish and finfish processing.

Green chemistry and the ocean-based biorefinery
Francesca M. Kerton, Yi Liu, Khaled W. Omari and Kelly Hawboldt, Green Chem., 2013, 15, 860-871

These articles are free to access for 6 weeks!

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Work by scientists from Queen’s University Belfast on ionic liquid chemistry is in the running to be named the most important British innovation of the 21^st Century. 

The work of staff in the Queen’s University Ionic Liquid Laboratories (QUILL) Research Centre is up against 11 other innovations from across the United Kingdom battling it out in a public vote to find the one that will have the greatest impact in the coming century. The vote is part of the Science Museum’s Initiative on Great British past and future Innovations. 

Ionic liquids are salts which can remain liquid at room temperature and do not form vapours, and so can be used as non-polluting alternatives to conventional solvents.  At QUILL, a team of nearly 100 scientists are exploring the potential of these green solvents and Fortune 100 energy giant Petronas is already using the technology in its plants.  The mercury removal unit, using 15 tons of supported ionic liquid, was developed by a team led by Professor Ken Seddon, Co-Director of QUILL at Queen’s, and Dr John Holbrey also from QUILL, who were listed last year as the number one and two chemists in the UK based on citations of their work.Professor Ken Seddon said: “Being shortlisted for the most important British innovation of the 21^st century is recognition of the high calibre of research being undertaken at QUILL and throughout the University.  We would encourage people to take a moment to vote for our research as its application will eventually have a bearing on most of our lives.”

Other notable British innovations in the hunt for the prize are Quantum Dots, Graphene, Raspberry Pi and the discovery of the Higgs-Boson – you can vote for your favourite here.  Update Monday 25th March – Ionic Liquid Chemistry was voted the recent innovation that is most likely to shape the coming century.

Why not take a look at a collection of high quality research in this area from across RSC Journals – Increadible ionic liquids: an article collection.