Platinum Metals Review - Volume 6, Issue 1, 1962

The use of platinum thermocouples to measure molten steel temperatures has been well established for many years, and normal steelmaking practice involves the control of tapping temperatures by this means. But in the new melting shop at the Ravenscraig works of Colvilles Limited the author has developed a method of controlling the whole open hearth process on the basis of temperature measurement at fixed intervals of time. The procedure he describes here results in a significant increase in productivity and reduction in cost per ton of steel.

Little attention has been given to the use of ruthenium and osmium as catalysts for vapour-phase reactions. This paper shows that both these metals when supported on alumina possess significant activity for the hydrogenation of unsaturated hydrocarbons. In the hydrogenation of butene, butadiene and acetylene their activity is comparable with that shown by the other platinum group metals, although ruthenium is generally more active than osmium.