Johnson Matthey Technology Review - Volume 65, Issue 2, 2021

Biofilms in industrial cooling tower systems are an important problem. The importance of the surface material in the response to an oxidising biocide (chloramine T trihydrate) was substantiated in our study. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cooling tower fill material, stainless steel cooling tower construction material and glass surfaces were compared by evaluating the bacterial loads on materials before and after biocidal treatm Read More

The restructuring of the economy post-COVID-19 coupled to the drive towards Net Zero carbon dioxide emissions means we must rethink the way we use transport fuels. Fossil-carbon based fuels are ubiquitous in the transport sector, however there are alternative synthetic fuels that could be used as drop-in or replacement fuels. The main hurdles to achieving a transition to synthetic fuels are the limited availability of low-cost Read More

The reduction of carbon dioxide into useful products such as fuels and chemicals is a topic of intense research activity at present, driven by the need to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels and avoid catastrophic temperature rises across the world. In this review, we consider a range of different technological approaches to CO2 conversion, their current status and the molecules which each approach is best suited to making. In Pa Read More

In this review, we consider a range of different technological approaches to carbon dioxide conversion, their current status and the molecules which each approach is best suited to making. Part II presents the photochemical, photoelectrochemical, plasma and microbial electrosynthetic routes to CO2 reduction and discusses the technological options together with proposals for future research needs from an industry perspective.

To combat the global problem of carbon dioxide emissions, hydrogen is the desired energy vector for the transition to environmentally benign fuel cell power. Water electrolysis (WE) is the major technology for sustainable hydrogen production. Despite the use of renewable solar and wind power as sources of electricity, one of the main barriers for the widespread implementation of WE is the scarcity and high cost of platinum gro Read More

Microbial lipids hold great promise as biofuel precursors, and research efforts to convert such lipids to renewable diesel fuels have been increasing in recent years. In contrast to the numerous literature reviews on growing, characterising and extracting lipids from oleaginous microbes, and on converting vegetable oils to hydrocarbon fuels, this review aims to provide insight into aspects that are specific to hydroprocessing micr Read More

With the increasing demand for clean hydrogen production, both as a fuel and an indispensable reagent for chemical industries, acidic water electrolysis has attracted considerable attention in academic and industrial research. Iridium is a well-accepted active and corrosion-resistant component of catalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). However, its scarcity demands breakthroughs in catalyst preparation techn Read More

Long-distance air travel requires fuel with a high specific energy and a high energy density. There are no viable alternatives to carbon-based fuels. Synthetic jet fuel from the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process, employing sustainable feedstocks, is a potential low-carbon alternative. A number of synthetic fuel production routes have been developed, using a range of feedstocks including biomass, waste, hydrogen and captured ca Read More

Shipping, which accounts for 2.6% of global carbon dioxide emissions, is urged to find clean energy solutions to decarbonise the industry and achieve the International Maritime Organization (IMO)’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets by 2050. It is generally believed that hydrogen will play a vital role in enabling the use of renewable energy sources. However, issues related with hydrogen storage and distribution curren Read More

This is Part II of an overview of the state-of-the-art and emerging technologies for decarbonising shipping using ammonia as a fuel. Part I (1) covered general properties of ammonia, the current production technologies with an emphasis on green synthesis methods, onboard storage and ways to generate power from it. The safety and environmental aspects, as well as challenges for the adaptation of technology to mariti Read More

The C123 project will develop two scenarios for the production of C3 products from unutilised natural gas sources. The add-on route targets propylene production in large, established petrochemical facilities. The modular route targets the production of a set of other C3 products from remote, stranded methane sources such as marginal gas or biogas. Potential sites for the exploitation of the C123 technology are investi Read More

C123 is a €6.4 million European Horizon 2020 (H2020) integrated project running from 2019 to 2023, bringing together 11 partners from seven different European countries. There are large reserves of stranded natural gas waiting for a viable solution and smaller scale biogas opportunities offering methane feedstocks rich in carbon dioxide, for which utilisation can become an innovation advantage. C123 will evaluate how to Read More

A flexible combined heat, power and fuel production concept, FlexCHX, is being developed for managing the seasonal mismatch between solar energy supply and the demand for heat and power characteristic of northern and central Europe. The process produces an intermediate energy carrier (Fischer-Tropsch (FT) hydrocarbon product), which can be refined to transportation fuels using existing refineries. The FlexCHX pr Read More