News & Announcements

NCCC 2010

The 11th edition of NCCC will take place in early March. Visit the conference website for further details.

More information: www.n3c.nl

KNCV Katalyse ALV

The Annual members meeting of the catalysis section of the KNCV wil take place at NCCC on Tuesday March 2 (17:30hr). Section members will receive an extra e-mail with details and relevant documents. Please note that many of you have not registered their e-mail address via KNCV and cannot be informed directly.

More information: KNCV Katalyse

NWO talent days

Are you one of the few people in the Netherlands who has the potential to become an outstanding researcher? The NWO-Talent Days can help you on your way to the top! You are cordially invited to participate in the next NWO-Talent Day, which will be held on Tuesday 23 March 2010. Only a limited number of places are available.

More information: www.nwo.nl/talentendag  

COST workshop (26-28 April 2010; Oostende)

With crude oil reserves decreasing, oil prices soaring and with increasing concerns about climate
change, intense research efforts are being developed all over the world to establish alternatives for the production of transportation fuels and chemicals. During this strategic workshop keynote speakers in catalysis research will elaborate on the crucial role catalysis can play in establishing sustainable and economically feasible alternative production routes. Alternative feedstocks (biomass, methane, very heavy crude oil and bitumen) and enabling catalytic technologies will be covered by experts in the field.

More information: www.cost-catalysis.nl

Awards & Grants

Dow Energy prize for Jack Pronk

The Dow Energy prize 2009 has been awarded to TU Delft professor Jack Pronk. He received the prize (25.000 EURO) for his contributions to the development of sustainable biotechnological alternatives for transportation fuels.

Two Dow Dissertation Prizes of 5.000 euro each went to René Rozendal (WUR) and Elif Genceli (TU Delft). 

More information: KNAW or C2W
 

R&D highlights

Catalytic Jungle

Catalytic Processes and Materials (CPM – Utwente) and Physics of Fluids (PoF – Utwente) published a joint paper in Langmuir including the cover picture: Water droplet dancing on a hydrophobic stage consisting of a carbon nanofiber jungle.

More information on the manuscript can be found here: tnw website

Cu(I) catches

A serendipitous discovery by the MCBIM group has led to a publication in Science Magazine: Electrocatalytic CO2 Conversion to Oxalate by a Copper Complex, Raja Angamuthu, Philip Byers, Martin Lutz, Anthony L. Spek, Elisabeth Bouwman, Science 327 313-315, 2010.

More information: LIC (in Dutch); Nature; VPRO Noorderlicht article (in Dutch); Technological Review (MIT)

Finding Green in Gold

A novel nanoporous gold material prepared by removing silver from a gold-silver alloy selectively catalyzes production of an industrially important compound under mild conditions, according to a team of researchers in Germany and the U.S. (Science 2010, 327, 319). The study further broadens gold’s rapidly growing repertoire of catalytic reactions. It also could help efforts to replace industrial chemical processes with less hazardous and “greener” ones.

More information: C&EN online

Customized nanoarticles

Catalysis with metal nanoparticles has been rendered more convenient and effective thanks to a new catalyst preparation method devised by a group in California. These dendrimer- and polymer-encapsulated metal nanoparticles can catalyze, with high efficiency, reactions that until now have been accessible exclusively via solution-phase chemistry.

More information: C&EN online

Business news

DSM to Close Specialty Intermediates Operation

DSM says it will close its DSM Specialty Intermediates (Sittard, the Netherlands) operation by December 31, 2010 at the latest. The business's activities, located at the Chemelot industrial site in the Sittard-Geleen area, will cease with effect from July 1, 2010, as a result.

More information: chemweek

BASF and Linde to Market Carbon Capture Plants

BASF and Linde's Dresden, Germany based subsidiary have signed a cooperation agreement to jointly market licenses and plants for the capture of carbon dioxide from flue gases. BASF will be responsible for the chemical processes for capturing CO2, while Linde will provide engineering and design as well as construciton of the facilities, under the agreement.

More information: chemweek

Grace and Chevron Convert Catalyst JV to Equal Partnership

W.R. Grace says it has completed the sale of a 5% stake in Advanced Refining Technologies (ART), a hydroprocessing catalysts joint venture with Chevron Products, to Chevron on November 30, 2009, and as a result, Grace has reduced its interest in ART from 55% to 50%, to achieve a balanced ownership structure. Grace and Chevron have also amended certain agreements governing Grace's supply of catalyst to the jv and the related funding of capital spending in support of the jv, Grace says.

More information: chemweek

Boosting Catalyst Productivity

For the better part of a century, chemical process industries (CPI) have depended on catalysts to make their processes viable. Current efforts toward process efficiency and environmental innocuousness have placed more demands on catalysts to produce more with less.

Industrial catalyst manufacturers are partners in the effort; they are pursuing several different pathways to maximize their products’ ability to boost output for those who use them. Among the strategies are to find ways to maintain product yields with less catalyst, and to improve catalyst activity without sacrificing selectivity.

There have been several recent examples where new catalysts have helped realize manufacturing advantages. Success has been reached through the use of alternate catalyst materials, new support designs and new manufacturing methodology.

More information: chemical engineering

People on the move

Guido Mul appointed Professor at University of Twente

Guido Mul has left Delft University of Technology to head the new group PhotoCatalytic Synthesis (PCS) at the University of Twente per November 2009. The chair is part of the IMPACT Institute (Institute of Mechanics, Processes, and Control Twente). Research activities are aimed at the development of innovative materials and concepts to run photocatalytic reactions with high efficiency. The focus of the research program is on the conversion of solar energy into chemical energy, i.e. to drive thermodynamically uphill reactions such as the synthesis of fuel by CO2 activation. Furthermore, the high selectivities that can be obtained in alkane activation over photon excited catalysts, as well as photocatalytic purification of waste streams, are of interest.

More information can be found at the web-sites of IMPACT (www.impact.utwente.nl) and of the PCS group (www.utwente.nl/tnw/pcs).

Looking for an exciting career in renewable catalysis?  

On a regular base CatchBio has new PhD and postdoc positions to offer in various areas of catalysis research. Challenging interdisciplinary research projects focus on different parts of the biomass process chain, like biomass pre-treatment, catalyst development and characterization, fundamental studies on feedstock characterization and reactor design.

Check their website for the latest vacancies: www.catchbio.com/vacancies

Recent 'Dutch' Patent Applications in Catalysis

On a regular base, we provide you with the latest Dutch patent applications in the field of catalysis. The overviews are published on our website: katalyse.kncv.nl.

Thesis defences

10/02/2010 Johan Den Breejen (UU): Cobalt particle size effects in catalysis; Promotor K.P. de Jong, copromotor Harry Bitter

15/02/2010 Niels Meis (UU): Supported modified hydrotalcites as sorbent for CO2 capture; Promotor K.P. de Jong, copromotor Harry Bitter

16/03/2010 Kalyani Pangarkar (TU Delft): Solving the Heat Transport Issue in Multiphase Fixed Bed Reactors; Promotores: Prof.dr. J.A. Moulijn, Prof.dr. F. Kapteijn,Dr.ir. J.R. van Ommen

Conferences etc.

Many new conferences and events were announced recently. An overview of catalysis-related conferences and symposia and more information can be found in the agenda of KNCV Catalysis.

Next Edition

The next edition of this Netherlands Catalysis Newsletter will be distributed in April 2010. Content can be supplied to and by our correspondents.

This newsletter is distributed 4-5 times per year to members of KNCV catalysis and those who have (been) signed up via the NIOK Society. If you want to (un)subscribe,
please visit our website for instructions.