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- Volume 60, Issue 4, 2016
Johnson Matthey Technology Review - Volume 60, Issue 4, 2016
Volume 60, Issue 4, 2016
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Methane Emission Control
By By Agnes RajNatural gas is of increasing interest as an alternative fuel for vehicles and stationary engines that traditionally use gasoline and diesel fuels. Drivers for the adoption of natural gas include high abundance, lower price and reduced greenhouse gas emissions compared to other fossil fuels. Biogas is an option which could reduce such emissions further. The regulations which cap emissions from these engines currently include Euro VI and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) greenhouse gas legislation. The regulated emissions limits for methane, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) for both stoichiometric and lean burn compressed natural gas engines can be met by the application of either palladium-rhodium three-way catalyst (TWC) or platinum-palladium oxidation catalyst respectively. The drivers, policy and growth of this Pd based catalyst technology and its remaining challenges to be overcome in terms of cost and catalyst deactivation due to sulfur, water and thermal ageing are described in this short review.
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Optimising Platinum-Rhodium Thermocouple Wire Composition to Minimise Composition Change Due to Evaporation of Oxides
By Jonathan V. PearceBarring the presence of significant amounts of impurities, an important cause of thermoelectric inhomogeneity and therefore calibration drift of platinum-rhodium thermocouples at high temperatures is the vaporisation and transport of the oxides of Pt and Rh, which causes local changes in wire composition. By examining the vapour pressures of Pt and Rh oxides and their temperature dependence, it is shown that at a given temperature there is an optimal wire composition at which evaporation of the oxides has no effect on the wire composition, provided the vapour does not leave the vicinity of the wire. This may also have applications for Pt-Rh heater elements.
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Reduction of Activated Carbon-Carbon Double Bonds using Highly Active and Enantioselective Double Bond Reductases
Authors: By Beatriz Domínguez, Ursula Schell, Serena Bisagni and Thomas KalthoffThe use of enzymes for the asymmetric reduction of activated C=C double bonds is a viable and straightforward alternative to chiral hydrogenation. The number of isolated and characterised double bond reductases (ENEs) has grown significantly over the past fifteen years and the use of this enzyme class in organic synthesis has increased accordingly. In this article we examine the ENE-catalysed reduction of a number of activated alkenes using enzymes from Johnson Matthey’s collection. These reductions proved to be scalable: they can be run at high substrate concentration, delivering the reduced product in high yield and high chemical purity.
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“Handbook of Metathesis” 2nd Edition
Authors: Reviewed by Valerian Dragutan and Ileana Dragutan
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Eighty Years of Steam Reforming
Authors: By Chris Murkin and John BrightlingSteam reforming of methane is a vital unit operation in the manufacture of synthesis gas (or syngas). Johnson Matthey Process Technologies is a leader in reforming technology for the industrial production of hydrogen, methanol and ammonia to the chemicals and oil and gas sectors. Many of the key innovations in the development of the early reformers and catalysts have taken place in Billingham, UK (Figure 1) by ICI Agricultural Division and later Johnson Matthey Process Technologies. This paper explores the history of the site at which industrial reforming technology was established in 1936 and recounts the technological milestones of the engineers’ work on catalysts, reformer design and operation since that time.
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Palladium Impurity Removal from Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Process Streams
Authors: By Stephanie Phillips, Duncan Holdsworth, Pasi Kauppinen and Carl Mac NamaraIn this article, we will look at palladium impurity removal from active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) process streams using metal scavengers and the drivers for the implementation of such processes. The article will review some of the available scavengers and detail how Johnson Matthey approaches the trial work and the methods used for screening, optimisation and scale-up of the scavenger process. It will outline the steps taken to ensure smooth transfer of the metal impurity removal process from lab to plant. This will include Johnson Matthey data from batch isotherm, kinetic and fixed bed trials and the application of mathematical models for performance characterisation and scale-up, which all feed into the final system design. Performance data for a number of the Johnson Matthey range of scavengers will be referenced both in batch and cartridge systems and the benefits of using the scavengers in a cartridge system will be presented.
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Introduction to the Additive Manufacturing Powder Metallurgy Supply Chain
Authors: By Jason Dawes, Robert Bowerman and Ross Trepleton
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Methanol Production – A Technical History
By By Daniel Sheldon
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Lithium Recovery from Aqueous Resources and Batteries: A Brief Review
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Toward Platinum Group Metal-Free Catalysts for Hydrogen/Air Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells
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Methane Emission Control
By By Agnes Raj
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Secondary Lithium-Ion Battery Anodes: From First Commercial Batteries to Recent Research Activities
Authors: By Nicholas Loeffler, Dominic Bresser, Stefano Passerini and Mark Copley
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Challenges and Opportunities in Fast Pyrolysis of Biomass: Part I
By By Tony Bridgwater
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Ammonia and the Fertiliser Industry: The Development of Ammonia at Billingham
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