editors g.j. hutchings, cardiff university, wales, uk

8/14/2019 EDITORS G.J. Hutchings, Cardiff University, Wales, UK

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EDITORS

G.J. Hutchings, Cardiff University, Wales, UK

Department of Chemistry, PO Box 912,

Cardiff CF10 3TB, UK, fax: (44-29) 20874075,

e-mail: [email protected]

B.H. Davis, University of Kentucky, Center for Applied Energy

Research, 2540 Research Park Drive, Lexington, KY 40511-8433,

USA, fax: (1-859) 2570302, e-mail: [email protected]

NEWS BRIEF CORRESPONDENTS

A. Bruckner, Institut fur Angewandte Chemie, Berlin, Germany

V. Corte s Corbera n, Instituto de Catalisis y Petroleoquimica,

Madrid, Spain

C. Flego, Enitecnologie SpA, San Donato, Milan, Italy

S. Go bo lo s, Institute of Chemistry, Budapest, Hungary

J.-M. Millet, Inst. De Recherches sur la Catalyse CNRS,

Villeurbanne Cedex, France

A. Miyamoto, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

J.Ryczkowski,Universityof Maria-Curie-Sklodowska, Lublin,Poland

M.Scurrell,Universityof Witwatersrand,Johannesburg,South Africa

K. Seshan, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands

Y. Sun, Inst. of Coal Chemistry,Taiyuan, China

Applied Catalysis A: General Volume 295, issue 1 13 OCTOBER 2005

doi:10.1016/j.apcata.2005.09.001

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Report on Summer School on Environmental Cata-lysis and Energy

The Summer School on Environmental Catalysis andEnergy organised by Professor J.R.H. Ross (Universityof Limerick, Ireland) under the auspices of the IrishCatalysis Society and the Surface Reactivity and Cata-

lysis Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry was held inthe University of Limerick from 3rd to 8th July, 2005.Participants (around 40) came from all over Europeand the United States. A series of tutors, both academicand industrial, lectured on all aspects of catalysis, with aparticular emphasis on the applications of catalysis inrelation to energy, environmental considerations and sus-tainable development. Several lectures were also givenon the use of catalysis literature, particularly electronicmedia, and the preparation of papers, posters and oralpresentations. The lectures were backed up by structureddiscussions on the issues raised at the end of each day.

The main topics of the summer school were:

General Introduction to Catalysis and Green Cata-lysis

Biocatalysis and the use of biofeedstocks Fischer Tropsch synthesis Production and use of Hydrogen as a fuel Experimental methods Automotive catalysis, in particular de-NOx methods Preparation of scientific papers and presentations

The opening lecture was given by Dr. J. N. Armor (GlobalCatalysis, USA) on a general introduction to environmen-tal catalysis, its applications and the opportunities for its

development. Professor J. J. Spivey (Louisiana StateUniversity, USA) gave a detailed overview on the funda-mental aspects of heterogeneous catalysis. Professor E.Tsang (University of Reading, UK) gave a general intro-duction to green catalysis, an area that was elaboratedupon by Professor J. A. Anderson (University of Aberd-een, UK) in his lecture on enantioselective catalysis.

The application of catalytic technology to reduce material,water and energy consumption was discussed in severallectures. Biocatalysis enables renewable resources, suchas forests, grasslands, wheat and corn, to become thenew raw materials for our production and energy needs.The great benefits of using such catalysis over traditionalindustrial chemical processes is that the biochemicaltransformations typically proceed at much lower tempera-tures, require little or no petroleum-based energy and rawmaterial and can be designed to produce remarkablycomplex products with great specificity and minimal toxicbyproducts, thus making them more environmentallybenign. An overview of biocatalysis was give by Dr. Armorand subsequently Dr. M. Lok (Johnson Matthey, UK)discussed its applications in terms of the production ofbiodiesel and the use of glycerine. Other applicationsinvolving biomass in fine chemical synthesis were dis-cussed by Professor Ross. It was generally agreed that acritical element in the development of this area will involvea strong interdisciplinary research programme, with col-

laboration between chemists, chemical engineers, bio-chemists and other biological scientists.

Another subject that was examined in depth was thedevelopment of alternative fuels which could be usedin place of gasoline. Three main alternatives were dis-cussed. Firstly, as addressed by Dr. M. Lok and Dr. F.

Meunier (Queens University, Belfast, Ireland), biomass-based synthetic fuels were considered as an alternativefuel source. From the gasification of such biomass mate-rials as wood, charcoal or peat, to the production of bio-oilfrom the fast pyrolysis of biomass and its use in gen-erating electricity, the opportunities for establishing analternative fuel reserve appear immense.

The production of alternative fuels using Fischer Tropschsynthesis was also reviewed. Professor J. W. Niemants-verdriet (Eindhoven University of Technolgy, The Nether-lands) delivered a molecular view of the fundamentalaspects of syngas and Fischer-Tropsch catalysis. Dr.Lok expanded on this and discussed the combination of

Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and biomass gasification as avery promising route to produce renewable, greentransportation fuels. This method involves gasificationof the biomass to yield a biosyngas rich in H2 and CO,cleaning the syngas and using it as feed gas for aFischer-Tropsch synthesis reactor where the H2 andCO are converted into long-chain hydrocarbons thatare subsequently converted into green diesel in apost-processing step.

Thirdly, the use of hydrogen as a fuel was discussed. Ithad been pointed out that there are three key issueswhich must be considered in the development of ahydrogen economy. Firstly it must be possible to pro-

duce the hydrogen in a safe, affordable manner. Theproduction of hydrogen using coal, natural gas, nuclearenergy, or renewable energy (wind, solar, biomass) wasdetailed by Dr. Armor. The storage and transport ofthe hydrogen is another issue which was addressedby Professor Tsang. Finally, Dr. J. A. Sullivan (UniversityCollege Dublin, Ireland) described the end use ofhydrogen in fuel cells powering vehicles and in pro-ducing electricity and heat for residential and industrialbuildings.

Another topic which was discussed at length was auto-motive catalysis. A general overview on the currentmethods of reducing vehicular emissions was given by

Dr. Sullivan while Dr. Meunier discussed the problem ofremoving NOx from lean-burn engines and stationarypower sources. Following on from this, Professor Ander-son extensively detailed the latest research carried out onNOx traps for the removal of so-called lean- NOx. Sulphurpoisoning is known to be a major cause for deactivationof such automotive catalysts and possible solutions tothis problem were presented by Dr. R. Ukropec (Univer-sity of Limerick, Ireland).

Discussion of experimental methods proved to be a verypractical topic, presented by Dr. Ukropec, while relateddiscussions on the use Operando spectroscopy werepresented by Dr. Armor and Dr. Meunier. These topics


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were complemented by visits to the laboratories in theMaterials and Surface Science Institute.

Another practical series of lectures on the preparation ofscientific papers and oral presentations was given byProfessor Niemantsverdriet. This was complemented bya comprehensive tutorial in relevant electronic resources.

Overall the summer school provided an interesting andvaried look at many different topics relating to Environ-mental Catalysis and Energy. Its success in stimulatinginterest and inspiring lively discussions among all theparticipants should encourage a continuation of this par-ticular summer school.

Orla KeaneIreland


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A group of participants working on a problem.

Jerry Spivey explains a point

Hans Niemantverdriet relaxes after a heavy days work

John Armor also relaxing after a hard day

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editors g.j. hutchings, cardiff university, wales, uk

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