Latest Catalysis Stories

LONDON, July 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In recent weeks there has been another rise in catalytic converter thefts and VanQuoteDirect are urging van drivers up and down the country to be careful about where they leave their van overnight. Last month it was reported that a surge of thefts hit the Leicestershire area with a total of 249 thefts taking place between the start of the year and the end of May. This is a vast amount higher than the same period last year in which...

JUPITER, Fla., July 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Dyadic International, Inc. ("Dyadic") (OTC Pink: DYAI), a global biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development, manufacture and sale of enzymes and other proteins for the bioenergy, bio-based chemical, biopharmaceutical and industrial enzyme industries, today unveiled its latest biofuels enzyme advancement, AlternaFuel® CMAX3(TM). This next generation product enables the production of cellulosic biofuels and bio-based...

Material wastes energy, Case Western Reserve University researcher suggests Fuel cells are inefficient because the catalyst most commonly used to convert chemical energy to electricity is made of the wrong material, a researcher at Case Western Reserve University argues. Rather than continue the futile effort to tweak that material - platinum - to make it work better, Chemistry Professor Alfred Anderson urges his colleagues to start anew. "Using platinum is like putting a resistor in...

Diels and Alder won the Nobel; now UCLA's Kendall Houk makes the movie In 1928, chemists Otto Diels and Kurt Alder first documented diene synthesis, a chemical reaction important for synthesizing many polymers, alkaloids and steroids. Their work on this mechanism, which came to be known as the Diels–Alder reaction, won them the 1950 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Since then, the iconic reaction has become the most commonly used and studied mechanism in organic chemistry. But what happens...

Research on the Water Oxidation Reaction in Plants and Bacteria Helps Solve an Important Piece of the Solar Energy Conversion Puzzle; Represents a Major Step Toward a New Generation of Photovoltaics New research led by chemists in the Baruch ’60 Center for Biochemical Solar Energy Research at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is seeking to detail the individual steps of highly efficient reactions that convert sunlight into chemical energy within plants and bacteria. In a paper...

JUPITER, Fla. and WAGENINGEN, The Netherlands, July 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Dyadic International, Inc. (OTC Pink: DYAI), a global biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development, manufacture and sale of enzymes and other proteins for the industrial enzyme, bioenergy, and biopharmaceutical industries, announced today that its research and development center in the Netherlands is a member of the Bio-Mimetic Project, a new multidisciplinary research consortium that has been...

Breakthrough could reduce costs for the consumer University of Minnesota engineering researchers are leading an international team that has made a major breakthrough in developing a catalyst used during chemical reactions in the production of gasoline, plastics, biofuels, pharmaceuticals, and other chemicals. The discovery could lead to major efficiencies and cost-savings in these multibillion-dollar industries. The research is to be published in the June 29, 2012 issue of the leading...

DES PLAINES, Ill., June 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- UOP LLC, a Honeywell (NYSE: HON) company, announced today that Dr. Dean Rende has been selected to receive the 2012 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) Gordon E. Moore Medal for his outstanding record of discovery, scale-up, and commercialization of novel new catalysts used in the production of biodegradable detergents and petrochemical monomers. The SCI Gordon E. Moore Medal recognizes early-career success in innovation, as reflected...

FARMINGTON, Conn., June 25, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- The enzyme inhibitors industry in emerging markets has significant potential, in contrast to mature markets where growth is significantly slower. Having accurate market data and analysis is essential to companies that wish to compete on the global stage. With premium market research from the world's leading publishers, Global Information Inc. helps businesses stay on the cutting edge with the best forecasts, research, and...

Building larger porous coordination polymer architectures In what may prove to be a significant boon for industry, separating mixtures of liquids or gasses has just become considerably easier. Using a new process they describe as "reverse fossilization," scientists at Kyoto University's WPI Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) have succeeded in creating custom designed porous substances capable of low cost, high efficiency separation. The process takes place in the...