Engineers image nanostructure of a solid acid catalyst and boost its catalytic activity

Researchers from Lehigh and Rice universities combine electron microscopy and spectroscopy techniques to shed new light on a tungstated zirconia catalyst

11-Nov-2009 - The catalytic processes that facilitate the production of many chemicals and fuels could become much more environmentally friendly thanks to a breakthrough achieved by researchers from Lehigh and Rice Universities. In an article published Nov. 8 by the journal Nature Chemistry, the researchers ...

Melanie Sanford from the University of Michigan receives BASF Catalysis Award 2009

10-Nov-2009 - Scientists are not usually known by their nicknames. Melanie Sanford, Professor at the University of Michigan, is an exception to that rule: Her commitment to new catalytic reactions for cleaner systems and greener processes in chemistry and her new approaches to molecule-building through ...

How size matters for catalysts

Study links size, activity, electronic properties

10-Nov-2009 - University of Utah chemists demonstrated the first conclusive link between the size of catalyst particles on a solid surface, their electronic properties and their ability to speed chemical reactions. The study is a step toward the goal of designing cheaper, more efficient catalysts to increase ...

New nanomethod paves the way for new measuring technology and hypersensitive sensors

05-Nov-2009 - Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have developed a new measurement technology that makes use of optical resonances in nanoparticles. The method, which opens new possibilities in the field of catalytics, will be published in the journal Science for November and is already ...

Albemarle and TAYF Create Saudi Organometallic Chemicals Company (SOCC), a Strategic Catalysts Joint Venture

New 50/50 Joint Venture Will Build First World-Scale Organometallics Catalyst Plant in the Middle East

29-Oct-2009 - Albemarle Corporation announced that it will form a 50/50 joint venture with Ibn Hayyan Plastic Products Company (TAYF), an affiliate of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), called Saudi Organometallic Chemicals Company (SOCC). Under the terms of the joint venture agreement, the two parent ...

New molecules created by UC Riverside chemists have wide applications

Guy Bertrand's lab shows metal-free 'abnormal N-heterocyclic carbenes' are stable, allowing their use in numerous catalytic chemical reactions

28-Oct-2009 - Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have successfully created in the laboratory a class of carbenes, highly reactive molecules, used to make catalysts – substances that facilitate chemical reactions. Until now, chemists believed these carbenes, called "abnormal N-heterocyclic ...

Researchers make key step towards turning methane gas into liquid fuel

27-Oct-2009 - Researchers at the University of Washington and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have taken an important step in converting methane gas to a liquid, potentially making it more useful as a fuel and as a source for making other chemicals. Methane, the primary component of natural ...

Air Products Sells Polyurethane Pre-Polymers Business to COIM USA

21-Oct-2009 - Air Products signed an agreement to sell its polyurethane pre-polymers business, marketed under the Airthane® and Versathane® tradenames, to COIM USA Inc., a fully owned subsidiary of COIM SpA. Also included in the deal is Air Products’ manufacturing facility in Paulsboro, N.J. Terms of the deal ...

Scientists to use artificial photosynthesis and nanotubes to generate hydrogen fuel with sunlight

US Department of Enregy awards $1.7 million to explore new 'green' energy creation

19-Oct-2009 - A team of four chemists at the University of Rochester have begun work on a new kind of system to derive usable hydrogen fuel from water using only sunlight. The project has caught the attention of the U.S. Department of Energy, which has just given the team nearly $1.7 million to pursue the ...

BNC chosen by leading Saudi Arabian research institution in multi-million pound environmental nanotechnology project

16-Oct-2009 - Bio Nano Consulting (BNC) announced that it has been chosen to lead the UK arm of a collaboration with a major research institution in the Middle East in a multi-million pound environmental nanotechnology endeavour. The agreement, worth in excess of £2 million over two years for BNC and its ...