hte helps BP accelerate commercialisation of Fischer-Tropsch process

 hte extends its collaboration with BP International Ltd. in the field of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The BP Conversion Technology Centre is continuing to work with hte in the field of Fischer-Tropsch catalysis and process. The Fischer-Tropsch process is used to convert syngas into synthetic fuels and lubricants, and due to the global resources situation is currently gaining importance. Syngas itself can be formed from gaseous or solid carbon sources such as natural gas, coal or biomass.

hte has provided in-house developed testing capacities as well as an experienced project team. Over the period of the collaboration, hte’s technology platform has been continuously refined and advanced for the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction allowing BP to perform a large number of rapid and precise data measurements in support of catalyst and process scale-up. Used systematically this data rapidly generates information on reaction kinetics, the fundamentals of start-up and activation and the impact of key process parameters. This builds confidence in BP’s implementation of their FT technology across a variety of potential applications and feedstocks.

Ewen Ferguson, Senior Chemist at the BP Conversion Technology Centre, comments: "We were impressed with the high data quality obtained by the high throughput technology available at hte in this challenging field. hte’s continuous commitment to technology development allowed us for the first time to explore high throughput methods for testing of late-stage catalyst formulations. BP and its partner Davy Process Technology are now actively looking to licence this process to third parties. This project is just one of many successful collaborations between BP and hte. Using high-throughput methods, we have been able to build the fundamental understanding and kinetic information required to apply our proven Fischer-Tropsch process to a wide range of project opportunities with greater confidence."

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Membrane pockets that gain catalytic activity upon self-assembly shed light on biological enzymatic processes

Biological membranes play key roles in the body. They determine, for example, how molecules enter and exit cells, and the architecture of their lipid bilayer allows them to host enzymes and enhance their catalytic performance under natural conditions. To clarify the mechanisms that govern these processes, a team of chemists in Japan has generated in water tiny, catalytically active, free-standing membrane pockets, called vesicles, using a self-assembly method based on a small palladium complex. The team was led by Yasuhiro Uozumi from the RIKEN Advanced Science Institute in Wako and the Institute for Molecular Science in Okazaki.

Many researchers have already used ultra-small self-assembled pockets to perform reactions in solution while protecting the reagents from their potentially destructive surroundings. However, unlike Uozumi’s vesicles, few of these reaction vessels were ‘architecture-based’ catalysts; that is, structures that exhibit activity only when self-assembled. 

The team’s palladium complex is a rigid, planar, pincer-like structure with hydrophilic ‘arms’ and hydrophobic ‘legs’. The different affinity for water and orientation of these functional groups directs vesicle assembly in water. Furthermore, these properties allow the complex to gain unique catalytic activity for specific chemical reactions. “This, conceivably, would approach an artificial enzymatic system,” notes Uozumi.

“The vesicle, which bears a hydrophobic inner region, was self-constructed in water, and this inner region served as a reservoir for the substrate,” says Uozumi. He explains that the entire reaction system—including the medium, molecular structure of the palladium complex, and substrate—cooperatively governs a ‘self-concentration’ process. During this process, substrate molecules penetrate the hydrophilic outer shell and accumulate in the hydrophobic reservoir where the reaction takes place (Fig. 1). After a quick catalytic transformation, the product exits the vesicle.

The researchers conducted a series of carbon–carbon bond-forming reactions, which are central to chemical synthesis, in the presence of the vesicles. They found that the vesicles stimulated the transformations in high yields at room temperature in water. The palladium complex was also recoverable in its original, disassembled form after the reaction. When they ran the same experiment in hydrophobic organic solvents, which hinder vesicle formation, no catalysis occurred—proof that water-mediated self-assembly is crucial for the catalytic activity of the complex. 

The team is currently developing new catalysts by changing the hydrophilic and hydrophobic groups and substituting palladium for other metal species. It is also applying these catalysts to other organic reactions. These water-enabled transformations will lead to greener and safer approaches to organic chemistry, Uozumi concludes.

More information: Hamasaka, G., et al. Molecular-architecture-based administration of catalysis in water: self-assembly of an amphiphilic palladium pincer complex. Angewandte Chemie, International Edition 50, 4876–4878 (2011).

Provided by RIKEN (news : web)

A new way to make lighter, stronger steel -- in a flash

A Detroit entrepreneur surprised university engineers here recently, when he invented a heat-treatment that makes steel 7 percent stronger than any steel on record – in less than 10 seconds.

In fact, the steel, now trademarked as Flash Bainite, has tested stronger and more shock-absorbing than the most common titanium alloys used by industry.

Now the entrepreneur is working with researchers at Ohio State University to better understand the science behind the new treatment, called flash processing.

What they've discovered may hold the key to making cars and military vehicles lighter, stronger, and more fuel-efficient.

In the current issue of the journal Materials Science and Technology, the inventor and his Ohio State partners describe how rapidly heating and cooling steel sheets changes the microstructure inside the alloy to make it stronger and less brittle.

The basic process of heat-treating steel has changed little in the modern age, and engineer Suresh Babu is one of few researchers worldwide who still study how to tune the properties of steel in detail. He's an associate professor of materials science and engineering at Ohio State, and Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Integrative Materials Joining for Energy Applications, headquartered at the university.

"Steel is what we would call a 'mature technology.' We'd like to think we know most everything about it," he said. "If someone invented a way to strengthen the strongest steels even a few percent, that would be a big deal. But 7 percent? That's huge."

Yet, when inventor Gary Cola initially approached him, Babu didn't know what to think.

"The process that Gary described – it shouldn't have worked," he said. "I didn't believe him. So he took my students and me to Detroit."

Cola showed them his proprietary lab setup at SFP Works, LLC., where rollers carried steel sheets through flames as hot as 1100 degrees Celsius and then into a cooling liquid bath.

Though the typical temperature and length of time for hardening varies by industry, most steels are heat-treated at around 900 degrees Celsius for a few hours. Others are heated at similar temperatures for days.

Cola's entire process took less than 10 seconds.

He claimed that the resulting steel was 7 percent stronger than martensitic advanced high-strength steel. [Martensitic steel is so named because the internal microstructure is entirely composed of a crystal form called martensite.] Cola further claimed that his steel could be drawn – that is, thinned and lengthened – 30 percent more than martensitic steels without losing its enhanced strength.

If that were true, then Cola's steel could enable carmakers to build frames that are up to 30 percent thinner and lighter without compromising safety. Or, it could reinforce an armored vehicle without weighing it down.

"We asked for a few samples to test, and it turned out that everything he said was true," said Ohio State graduate student Tapasvi Lolla. "Then it was up to us to understand what was happening."

Cola is a self-taught metallurgist, and he wanted help from Babu and his team to reveal the physics behind the process – to understand it in detail so that he could find ways to adapt it and even improve it.

He partnered with Ohio State to provide research support for Brian Hanhold, who was an undergraduate student at the time, and Lolla, who subsequently earned his master's degree working out the answer.

Using an electron microscope, they discovered that Cola's process did indeed form martensite microstructure inside the steel. But they also saw another form called bainite microstructure, scattered with carbon-rich compounds called carbides.

In traditional, slow heat treatments, steel's initial microstructure always dissolves into a homogeneous phase called austenite at peak temperature, Babu explained. But as the steel cools rapidly from this high temperature, all of the austenite normally transforms into martensite.

"We think that, because this new process is so fast with rapid heating and cooling, the carbides don't get a chance to dissolve completely within austenite at high temperature, so they remain in the steel and make this unique microstructure containing bainite, martensite and carbides," Babu said.

Lolla pointed out that this unique microstructure boosts ductility -- meaning that the steel can crumple a great deal before breaking – making it a potential impact-absorber for automotive applications.

Babu, Lolla, Ohio State research scientist Boian Alexandrov, and Cola co-authored the paper with Badri Narayanan, a doctoral student in materials science and engineering.

Now Hanhold is working to carry over his lessons into welding engineering, where he hopes to solve the problem of heat-induced weakening during welding. High-strength steel often weakens just outside the weld joint, where the alloy has been heated and cooled. Hanhold suspects that bringing the speed of Cola's method to welding might minimize the damage to adjacent areas and reduce the weakening.

If he succeeds, his discovery will benefit industrial partners of the NSF Center for Integrative Materials Joining Science for Energy Applications, which formed earlier this year. Ohio State's academic partners on the center include Lehigh University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the Colorado School of Mines.

Provided by The Ohio State University (news : web)

First wood-digesting enzyme found in bacteria could boost biofuel production

University of Warwick researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)-led Integrated Biorefining Research and Technology (IBTI) Club have identified an enzyme in bacteria which could be used to make biofuel production more efficient. The research is published in the 14 June Issue of the American Chemical Society journal Biochemistry.

This research, carried out by teams at the Universities of Warwick and British Columbia, could make sustainable sources of biofuels, such as woody plants and the inedible parts of crops, more economically viable.

The researchers, who were also supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, have discovered an enzyme which is important in breaking down lignin, one of the components of the woody parts of plants. Lignin is important in making plants sturdy and rigid but, because it is difficult to break down, it makes extracting the energy-rich sugars used to produce bioethanol more difficult. Fast-growing woody plants and the inedible by-products of crops could both be valuable sources of biofuels but it is difficult to extract enough sugar from them for the process to be economically viable. Using an enzyme to break down lignin would allow more fuel to be produced from the same amount of plant mass.

The researchers identified the gene for breaking down lignin in a soil-living bacterium called Rhodococcus jostii. Although such enzymes have been found before in fungi, this is the first time that they have been identified in bacteria. The bacterium’s genome has already been sequenced which means that it could be modified more easily to produce large amounts of the required enzyme. In addition, bacteria are quick and easy to grow, so this research raises the prospect of producing enzymes which can break down lignin on an industrial scale.

Professor Timothy Bugg, from the University of Warwick, who led the team, said: “For biofuels to be a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels we need to extract the maximum possible energy available from plants. By raising the exciting possibility of being able to produce lignin-degrading enzymes from bacteria on an industrial scale this research could help unlock currently unattainable sources of biofuels.

“By making woody plants and the inedible by-products of crops economically viable the eventual hope is to be able to produce biofuels that don’t compete with food production.”

The team at Warwick have been collaborating with colleagues in Canada at the University of British Columbia who have been working to unravel the structure of the enzyme. They hope next to find similar enzymes in bacteria which live in very hot environments such as near volcanic vents. Enzymes in these bacteria have evolved to work best at high temperatures meaning they are ideally suited to be used in industrial processes.

Duncan Eggar, BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Champion, said: “Burning wood has long been a significant source of energy. Using modern bioscience we can use woody plants in more sophisticated ways to fuel our vehicles and to produce materials and industrial chemicals. This must all be done both ethically and sustainably. Work like this which develops conversion processes and improves efficiencies is vital.”

More information: This paper is available online here: http://pubs.acs.or … 21/bi101892z

Provided by University of Warwick (news : web)