News Biofuel briefs
Danish enzyme specialist Novozymes has formed a collaborative agreement with Brazil’s largest sugarcane crusher Raizen Energia to supply enzyme technology for Raizen’s first commercial- scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Brazil, scheduled to be operational by end- 2014. The plant is a bolt-on facility to Raizen’s Costa Pinto sugarcane mill in the state of Sao Paulo and will have a capacity to produce 40m L/year of bioethanol from sugarcane bagasse and straw. Novozymes would also supply the technology for possible second plant. UK bioplastics developer Biome Bioplastics and the University of Warwick’s Centre for Industrial Biotechnology and Biorefining have secured a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP). The new partnership follows a TSB grant awarded earlier in 2013 focused on the feasibility of deriving chemicals for the production of bioplastics from lignin produced as a waste product from the pulp and paper industry. The KTP project is supported by a grant from the UK government- backed Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, which will fund a postdoctoral associate’s work to ensure that knowledge and expertise are effectively transferred to Biome. Spanish researchers from the department of chemical engineering and the environment at the University of the Basque Country in Blbao are investigating the development of an industrial process for the production of acetals derived from glycerol to enhance the properties of biodiesel. UK researchers at Cambridge University have shown that with the addition of a biofertiliser, biofuel crops can be grown successfully even on coal waste highly contaminated with heavy metals. Using waste from a former colliery in Nottinghamshire, treated with a mixture of organic waste, such as chicken manure, and zeolite, it was possible to grow a variety of biofuel crops, including rapeseed, flax, sugar beet and maize, with yields almost twice that obtained when grown in garden soil or coal waste with added manure, and over twice that obtained when grown in coal waste with zeolite.
Transport Hydrogen stations expansion Anthony King
One hundred hydrogen fuel stations will be rolled out in Germany over the next four years. By 2023, the current network of 15 filling stations will be expanded to around 400 under the country’s H2 fuel network action plan recently announced by the H2 Mobility initiative. An agreement in principle was signed by Air Liquide, Daimler, Linde, OMV, Shell and TOTAL, with a total investment of around €350m expected. The agreement also includes principles for the procurement and distribution of the hydrogen. Hydrogen can be converted to non-polluting,
as well as urban areas. ‘The objective is to offer an H2
zero-emissions, renewable energy. The consortium said fuel-cell powered electric vehicles can establish Germany as a lead hub for such technology. The plan envisages a H2
supply suitable for family cars in rural
station at least every 90km of motorway between densely populated areas. According to this plan in metropolitan areas, drivers of fuel-cell powered vehicles will have at least 10 hydrogen refuelling stations available each from 2023,’ the consortium explained.
Sustainable fuel consultant, Ulf Bossel doubts the
stations will see the light of day. ‘It doesn’t make sense to go with hydrogen because electric cars are here now and their overall efficiency is better,’ says Bossel.
Electronics A smart flexible model Kathryn Roberts
If flexible electronics are to become a reality for smart display technology, then flexible transistors are a must. Thus far, researchers have produced a range of semiconducting polymers, but their use in transistors is hindered owing to performance limitations. Inorganic transistors are composed of crystalline materials, such as silicon, that permit the easy movement of electrons but are generally rigid and brittle. The spaghetti-like molecular arrangement of polymers permits them to bend and flex but these molecules do not offer direct paths for charge transport. So,
10 Chemistry&Industry • November 2013
the flexibility that is inherent in semiconducting polymers impedes their ability to act as transistors, which rely on fast mechanisms for charge to move through the material. Now researchers at Stanford University in California, US, believe they have a mathematical model, which could lead to the design of semiconducting polymers for use in high-performance transistors. According to the researchers, their model shows that the semiconducting properties of polymers are determined by their amorphous shape and the electronic coupling, or electron movement, between these molecules (Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, doi: 10.1073/pnas.13o7158110). Further, they have found that the variability of electron flow through polymeric semiconductors is due to the way the structure of the molecular chains creates fast paths and congestion points, where electrons can jump from one chain to another. The Stanford model provides a simple algorithm that suggests how to control the process for making polymers with an eye to improving their electronic properties. ‘Our theory provides a roadmap for connecting the polymer structure to the charge mobility in such materials,’ says professor, Andrew Spakowitz.
He believes car companies don’t want to lose face by abandoning their hydrogen car, whereas Linde is interested in selling hydrogen and Shell in building fuel stations. ‘They haven’t spent any money yet,’ he notes. However, proponents point to similar hydrogen initiatives in Japan and California. Alan Lloyd, president of the International Council on Clean Transportation, says fuel-cell cars are part of a technology roadmap, which will include electric cars, plug-in hybrids and much cleaner gasoline and diesel vehicles. ‘What we are seeing is the manifestation of the need to replace oil, the desire to meet air quality goals, as well as greenhouse gas targets, with a technology that is being embraced by car companies,’ says Lloyd. He acknowledges that there are still challenges, ‘but I don’t think there are any show-stoppers this time, because the car companies have said they can produce the vehicles.’
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www.soci.org/chemistryandindustry
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