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| Japan develops cheaper catalyst to make plastic Thu Oct 23 13:27:49 UTC 2008 TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese researchers have developed a new type of catalyst to help turn natural gas into plastic and alternative fuels more cheaply. The new catalyst would help lower production costs because it helps reduce heat effectively and uses a smaller amount of platinum than what is used currently, said Keiichi Tomishige, associate professor at University of Tsukuba. It can also use less costly palladium, he said. Currently, either nickel or platinum is used as catalyst to turn natural gas into carbon monoxide and hydrogen, the first stage of a manufacturing process that eventually turns them into methanol and alternative auto fuels. Methanol is a key raw material in producing plastic. Auto fuels made from natural gas, or so-called gas-to-liquid fuels, are now under development in Japan, and have already been in commercial production in countries such as South Africa. A growing number of manufacturers now prefer natural gas to oil as a raw material to cut costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to fight climate change. Tomishige said the new catalyst, made of nickel finely coated with platinum or palladium, could scale down processing facilities as it reuses heat in the production process, and it contains only one-tenth to one-twentieth of the platinum currently needed, he said. The new technology, developed with funds supported by Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), has been shown to be effective in laboratory tests, he said. "It takes two or three more steps to make it commercially available," Tomishige said. (Reporting by Risa Maeda) This service is not intended to encourage spam. The details provided by your colleague have been used for the sole purpose of facilitating this email communication and have not been retained by Thomson Reuters. Your personal details have not been added to any database or mailing list. If you would like to receive news articles delivered to your email address, please subscribe at www.reuters.com/newsmails c Copyright Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Thomson Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters and its logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Thomson Reuters group of companies around the world. Quotes and other data are provided for your personal information only, and are not intended for trading purposes. Thomson Reuters and its data providers shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the quotes or other data, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. |