The North American Catalysis Society congratulates three of our members that have been recognized with significant American Chemical Society National Awards for 2012. The award recipients are Dr. Thomas F. Degnan Jr, ExxonMobil, Professor James A. Dumesic University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Professor Enrique Iglesia, University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Degnan has been named as winner of the 2012 ACS Award in Industrial Chemistry sponsored by the ACS Division of Business Development & Management and the ACS Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Professor Dumesic has been named winner of the 2012 George A. Olah Award in Hydrocarbon or Petroleum Chemistry sponsored by the George A. Olah Award Endowment. Professor Iglesia has been named winner of the 2012 Gabor A. Somorjai Award for Creative Research in Catalysis sponsored by the Gabor A. and Judith K. Somorjai Endowment Fund. All three recipients will be honored at an Awards Ceremony on March 27, 2012 held in conjunction with the 243rd ACS National Meeting in San Diego, CA.
Bruce Cook
Vice President, North American Catalysis Society
Call for 2012 IACS Award Nominations
IACS will present two awards at the 15th ICC in Munich – the ICC Award and the Heinz Heinemann Award. Please note that the deadline for nominations is January 15, 2012. All nominations should be submitted to the Secretary of the IACS by email to the following address: muhler@techem.rub.de. The recipients of these awards will be selected by the IACS Awards Committee, and it is planned to inform the recipients by March 15, 2012. Both recipients will be invited to present a plenary presentation at the ICC in Munich.
International Catalysis Award
The International Catalysis Award will be given to recognise and encourage individual contributions by a young person in the field of catalysis, such as the discovery of the significant improvement of a catalytic process, or an important contribution to the understanding of catalytic phenomena. The recipient must not have passed her/his 45th birthday by May 1 of the award year. The Award consists of a plaque and a check for $5,000.
Heinz Heinemann Award in Catalyst Science and Technology
The Heinz Heinemann Award in Catalysis will be given to an individual or a group for significant contributions to catalyst science and technology achieved between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2011. The Award consists of a plaque and a check for $5,000.
Nomination Procedure
Nomination of the award should be made before January 15 in the year of an International Congress on Catalysis (i.e. January 15, 2012, for the awards made at the 15th ICC), and should include a critical evaluation of the significance of the nominee’s published work, as well as a statement about the particular contribution on which the nomination is based. Nominations should also include the nominee’s qualifications, accomplishments and biography. Nomination documents, along with no more than four letters of support, should be submitted electronically as a single PDF file to the Secretary of the International Association of Catalysis Societies (muhler@techem.rub.de).The recipient will be required to give a lecture on her/his research as part of the International Congress on Catalysis at which the award is conferred (i.e. 15th ICC, July 1–6, 2012 in Munich, Germany).
Selection of Award Recipients
Selection of the award recipients will be made by an International Committee composed of renowned scientists or engineers. This Committee will be appointed by the President of the International Association of Catalysis Societies, subsequent to proposals from the Executive Committee of the International Association of Catalysis Societies. Posthumous awards will be made only when knowledge of the winner’s death is received after the announcement of the International Committee’s decision.
Call for Nominations: The 2012 ACS Catalysis Lectureship for the Advancement of Catalytic Science
Co-sponsored by the ACS Division of Catalysis Science & Technology and the ACS Publications journal ACS Catalysis, the annual ACS Catalysis Lectureship for the Advancement of Catalytic Science will honor the contributions of one individual or a collaborative team for groundbreaking research that strengthens connections between catalysis subdisciplines and has a profound impact on catalysis as a whole.
The inaugural ACS Catalysis Lectureship for the Advancement of Catalytic Science will be presented at the Fall 2012 ACS National Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Lectureship award winner will receive $3000, plus travel and lodging costs. In addition, a symposium will be developed to honor the recipient of the lectureship.
Nominators should include:
- Name and affiliation of nominee
- Name and affiliation of nominator
- Brief statement describing the nominee’s accomplishments
- List of top publications relevant to the award
The deadline for nominations is December 1, 2011. Send your nominations for the 2012 ACS Catalysis Lectureship to Award.ACScatalysis@acs.org.
In Memoriam: Jean-Claude Volta (1946–2011)
Jean-Claude Volta was born in Givors near Lyon, France on 3rd March 1946 and died in Lyon on 18th June 2011. He received a chemical engineer degree at the ‘‘Ecole Supérieure de Chimie Industrielle de Lyon’’ ESCIL, in 1968 and his ‘‘Doctorat ès Sciences’’ in 1973 from the University of Lyon.
His scientific career was almost entirely at the “Institut de Recherches sur la Catalyse” IRC, CNRS in Villeurbanne (Lyon), now IRCELYON. His passion for Brazil was quite intense. He collaborated in particular with Paolo Gustavo Pries de Oliveria and Lucia Appel from INT (Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia) in Rio de Janeiro and worked there for one year.
He retired in March 2006 as “Directeur de Recherche au CNRS”, after being at the head of the Oxide group. Everyone will remember him as an enthusiastic and brilliant scientist who contributed enormously to the scientific and social life of the Institute over 30 years.
He was awarded the annual award by the Catalysis division of the French Chemical Society in1984 for his major contribution in ‘‘structure sensitivity’’ of metallic oxides for catalytic selective oxidation of hydrocarbons. His case study was MoO3 single crystals.
He has more than 150 publications and patents in the field of oxidation catalysis in which he is world famous. His contribution to VPO catalysts for butane oxidation to maleic anhydride was important and outstanding. He has developed the spin echo mapping technique in MAS-NMR with Dr. Alain Tuel (IRCELYON), pioneered in situ/Operando Raman studies with analysis of reactants and products by GC on line with Professor Ollier at Ecole Centrale de Lyon and HR-TEM with Professor Chris Kiely (University of Liverpool, UK, now at Lehigh University, USA).
Jean-Claude was a founding member of the European CONCORDE (CO-ordination of Nanostructured Catalytic Oxides Research and Development) network and played a vital role in discussions leading to its formation. A special issue of the Journal Applied Catalysis A was organized by his friends and colleagues who wanted to express their recognition to Jean-Claude Volta on the occasion of his retirement and to celebrate his contribution to the field of structure sensitivity and selective oxidation in heterogeneous catalysis.
This note is essentially based on the preface of this special issue.
His friends
www.elsevier.com/locate/apcata
Applied Catalysis A: General 325 (2007) 193
In Memoriam: John H. Sinfelt (1931–2011)
By LOUISE STORY
John H. Sinfelt, a chemical engineer whose research for an oil company helped lead to the introduction of unleaded gasoline and significant reductions in air pollution, died on May 28 in Morristown, N.J. He was 80.
The cause was complications of congestive heart failure, his son, Klaus, said.
In the late 1960s and ’70s, the petroleum industry was under intense pressure to produce gasoline without lead, which contributed to air pollution and posed substantial health risks, particularly to children. Lead was added to gasoline to raise octane levels, which helped keep engines from knocking.
The Environmental Protection Agency issued regulations calling for a gradual reduction in the lead content of gasoline in 1973.
Dr. Sinfelt was working for the Standard Oil Development Company (now Exxon Mobil Research and Engineering), where he specialized in developing techniques to speed up chemical reactions. While the entire industry was pursuing the goal, said Stuart Soled, distinguished research associate at Exxon Mobil, it was Dr. Sinfelt who came up with a catalytic process using a combination of two metals — platinum and iridium —allowing refiners to inexpensively produce high-octane gasoline without adding lead.
He patented that method, and his ideas became important in further research into chemical reactions, said Enrique Iglesia, who worked with Dr. Sinfelt and who is now a professor of chemical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.
“He was a fairly deep scientist, almost academic in his nature, who made contributions that other people could follow,” Professor Iglesia said.
For Dr. Sinfelt’s breakthrough, President Jimmy Carter presented him with the President’s National Medal of Science at a White House ceremony in 1980. The citation recognized his work “leading to the development of new catalyst systems for the production of low-lead gasoline.”
Dr. Sinfelt received more than 40 patents, and he was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
John Henry Sinfelt was born on Feb. 18, 1931, in Munson, Pa. He graduated from Penn State and completed his master’s and Ph.D. in chemical engineering at the University of Illinois. In the mid-1950s he joined the Standard Oil Development Company.
Besides his son, he is survived by his wife, Muriel, and a brother, Frederick Seinfelt.
Dr. Sinfelt was pleased that he had helped improve the nation’s air quality. “I can’t say he was an environmentalist, but he was very proud that the work he did helped the environment,” his son said.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/business/10sinfelt.html?_r=2&hpw
Professor Johannes Lercher named the 2011 Burwell Lecturer
I am pleased to announce that Professor Johannes A. Lercher of the Technical University of Munich is the recipient of the 2011 Robert Burwell Lectureship in Catalysis of the North American Catalysis Society, sponsored by Johnson Matthey and administered by The North American Catalysis Society. It is to be awarded biennially in odd-numbered years. The award consists of a plaque and an honorarium of $5,000. The plaque will be presented during the closing banquet ceremonies at the 2011 North American Meeting of the Catalysis Society.An additional $4,500 is available to cover travelling expenses in North America. Professor Lercher will present lectures at the local catalysis clubs and societies during the two-year period covered by this award.
The Robert Burwell Lectureship in Catalysis is given in recognition of substantial contributions to one or more areas in the field of catalysis with emphasis on discovery and understanding of catalytic phenomena, catalytic reaction mechanisms and identification and description of catalytic sites and species.
Professor Lercher is being recognized for his ground-breaking contributions to our understanding of the interactions and transformations of molecules on solid catalysts through elegant combinations of physicochemical and kinetic analyses. His studies of the elementary in molecular transport through porous media and the resulting insights into the design of solids to manipulate these steps have led to a successful synthesis of hierarchic materials able to discriminate molecules on the basis of the volume defined by their rotation in the gas space. His studies of the into the structure and thermodynamic properties of hydrocarbons adsorbed within zeolite voids and on polar surfaces led to efficient catalysts for the selective activation of organic molecules. The concepts and learnings developed have stimulated significant experimental and theoretical studies in these areas and the development of novel catalytic chemistries for alkane activation. These chemistries include the functionalization of methane to methyl chloride on chloride surfaces, the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethene on supported molten chlorides, the stable and selective alkylation of isobutane with linear butenes on acidic zeolites, and the activation and cracking of branched alkanes by zeolites containing accessible lanthanum cations at ambient temperatures.
Enrique Iglesia
President, North American Catalysis Society
EuropaCat X
Venue: The University of Glasgow
It is the second oldest university in Scotland and the fourth oldest in the UK. Glasgow students walk in the footsteps of scientist Lord Kelvin, economist Adam Smith and pioneer of television John Logie Baird, among many others. Founded in the fifteenth century, the University operated from Glasgow Cathedral during its fledgling years. Over the next 400 years it expanded in scope and size and was a centre of both the Industrial Revolution and the Scottish Enlightenment. The University relocated to its present home in the West End of the city in 1870. The University has more than 6,000 staff, including 2,500 researchers, more than 15,000 undergraduate students, 4,900 postgraduate students and around 5,000 adult learners. It has been voted as having the best campus in Scotland and is a founder member of Universitas 21.
Accommodation
There are over 17,000 rooms in the Metropolitan Glasgow area. All are within easy reach of the conference venue. Choose from international 5 star resorts, attractive boutique style properties or budget and university accommodation.
Social Programme
An exciting programme is being planned. The conference will open in style with a welcome reception. This event is free to all delegates. Day tours can include visits to Stirling Castle, Loch Lomond and Edinburgh, as well as a city tour of Glasgow, featuring the Burrell Collection. A pre or post-congress tour can visit the Highlands and the Isle of Skye, taking in Loch Lomond, Glencoe, Loch Ness, the Spey Valley, distilleries.
Website: www.europacat.co.uk
KEY DATES
- Call for abstracts — 1st Nov 2010
- Deadline for submission — 28th Feb 2011
- Notification of Acceptance — 30th April 2011
- Registration Opens — 1st Jan 2011
- Conference — 28th August – 2nd Sept 2011
CONGRESS THEME
“Catalysis – Across the disciplines”
- Biocatalysis
- Chemical Engineering
- Homogeneous Catalysis
- Heterogeneous Catalysis
- Surface Science
GLASGOW
- Glasgow: Scotland’s cultural and shopping capital
- Access: Three international airports with direct flights from Europe, Middle East and North America
- Compact city: Easy to get around with a comprehensive public transport network
- Taste of Scotland: Over 800 restaurants and bars
- Gateway to Scotland: The Highlands, golf, distilleries and Loch Lomond, all within 35 minutes
THE CITY
At the heart of Scotland, Glasgow is undoubtedly one of Europe’s most dynamic cities: steeped in culture, rich in history, with its elegant streets, squares, parks and gardens. Glasgow has the finest civic arts collection in the UK, including the works of Botticelli, Degas, Van Gogh and Rembrandt to whet your appetite. All 27 museums are free. Glasgow, the first UK city to be a Cultural Capital of Europe, is home to Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
Professor James A. Dumesic is the recipient of the 2011 Boudart Award in Catalysis
We are pleased to announce that Professor James A. Dumesic of the University of Wisconsin-Madison is the recipient of the 2011 Michel Boudart for Advances in Catalysis, sponsored by the Haldor Topsøe Company and administered jointly by the North American Catalysis Society and the European Federation of Catalysis Societies. The Award will be presented at the 22nd North American Meeting of the Catalysis Society (Detroit, June 2011) and at Europacat X (Glasgow, August 2011).
This Award recognizes and encourages individual contributions to the elucidation of the mechanism and active sites involved in catalytic phenomena and to the development of new methods or concepts that advance the understanding and the practice of heterogeneous catalysis. It is meant to recognize individuals who bring together the rigor and the international impact that exemplifies the accomplishments and the career of Professor Michel Boudart.
Professor Dumesic is being specifically recognized for his pioneering work on the transformation of biomass-derived molecules to chemicals and fuels. In a combination of discovery and refinement, driven by catalytic insight that is his hallmark, Dumesic and his coworkers used thermodynamic and kinetic considerations, combined with catalyst optimization to develop a one-step aqueous phase reforming route from sugars and other biomass-derived oxygenates to hydrogen and/or alkanes. The work was guided by mechanistic insights about the relative rates of C‑C cleavage, leading to the formation of H2 and CO/CO2, and C‑O cleavage, which forms alkyl moieties, and led to the optimization of aqueous phase reforming for either H2 or alkane products. His studies elucidated catalysts and reaction conditions for polyol reforming that favor C‑C cleavage with minimal water-gas shift, thereby allowing glycerol reforming and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis to occur within a single reactor. These discoveries were quickly followed by two new and innovative catalytic conversion processes. One approach employs a cascade of reactors, each designed to sequentially attack specific functional groups; these reactions remove oxygen, achieve carbon-carbon bond synthesis, and steer the final upgrading steps towards the desired fuel molecules. These studies have shown how metal functions, moderated by another metal, can convert sugars and polyols to mono-functional intermediates, such as ketones, alcohols, and carboxylic acids, by balancing the rates of C‑C and C‑O cleavage. This approach led to strategies to form new C‑C bonds via coupling of these mono-functional intermediates to adjust chain length, as in the case of ketonization catalysis of carboxylic acids on mixed oxides and subsequent aldol-condensation to react ketones and alcohols on solid bases. Another novel approach involved γ‑gamma-valerolactone decarboxylation to butene and its oligomers and, in related work, the use of metal-acid bifunctional catalysts to convert valerolactone to C9 ketones by coupling ring-opening and C=C bond hydrogenation with the ketonization of resulting pentanoic acid.
This body of work has redefined the frontiers of fundamental catalysis while simultaneously addressing the critical worldwide needs for renewable energy sources and epitomizes the confluence of elegance and relevance in catalysis that the Boudart Award intends to recognize.
Enrique Iglesia
President, North American Catalysis Society
Avelino Corma Canos
President, European Federation of Catalysis Societies
In Memoriam: David Trimm (1937–2010)
David Lawrence Trimm contributed to the progress of catalysis through his professional work for almost five decades. He graduated from University of Exeter and got his PhD in 1961 and after a postdoc period at Imperial College and at University of Chicago he was with Imperial College as lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemical Technology (1963–1976).
During David’s early years at Imperial College, he became one of the pioneers in studying and explaining the mechanism of carbon formation on metal catalysts. This resulted in a number of important publications and PhD degrees. His experience was applied in studies of the complex mechanism of coke formation in pyrolysis (steam cracking) with early work on coupling of homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions. Later studies dealt with catalytic combustion with a view to practical applications and fuel conversion for fuel cell driven cars. David was presently engaged in research on making synfuels via acetylene. His achievements in catalysis are reflected by a large number of papers (286) many of which are highly cited. David’s attitude to catalysis was focused on the applications as reflected by his ambitious book “Design of Industrial Catalysts” (1980).
After a few years as professor in Trondheim (1976–1979) David moved to Australia which became his home. He continued the scientific work as professor at the University of New South Wales where he functioned as Head of School of Chemical Engineering and Industrial Chemistry in two periods (in total 18 years) until he was appointed to the prestigious position as Scientia Professor in 2001. At the same time he contributed to the analysis of the feasibility of GTL projects for Australia through his work at CSIRO (2000-) where he was appointed CSIRO Fellow in 2007 and as advisor to the government in numerous committees. David mastered the ability to be the link between science, industry and policy making bodies.
David served as regional editor for Applied Catalysis and was on the advisory board for several journals in the field. David was one of the founders of the Natural Gas Conversion Symposia (NGCS) in 1987 and he received the NGCS Award in 2007; he was also behind the APCAT conferences and instrumental in creating APCAS organization (Asia Pacific Association of Catalysis) in 2004.
David was strict on scientific principles but had a great heart when dealing with people. He was an inspiring team leader and with his sense of humor and his charm he was able to create a strong worldwide network of friends many of whom have enjoyed his and Gabi’s hospitality in their home at Watson Bay.
We are many who will miss David.
Professor Bert Weckhuysen is the recipient of the 2011 Paul H. Emmett Award in Fundamental Catalysis
Professor Bert Weckhuysen of the Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science of Utrecht University (The Netherlands) is the recipient of the 2011 Paul H. Emmett Award in Fundamental Catalysis, sponsored by the Grace Davison operating segment of W.R. Grace & Co. and administered by The North American Catalysis Society. The Award consists of a plaque and an honorarium of $5,000. The plaque will be presented during the closing banquet ceremonies at the 22nd North American Meeting of the Catalysis Society to be held in Detroit, Michigan on June 5–10, 2011. Professor Weckhuysen will present a plenary lecture during this conference.
The Paul H. Emmett Award in Fundamental Catalysis is given in recognition of substantial individual contributions in the field of catalysis with emphasis on discovery and understanding of catalytic phenomena, proposal of catalytic reaction mechanisms and identification of and description of catalytic sites and species.
Professor Weckhuysen is being recognized for his pioneering development and use of in-situ spectroscopic methods to probe solids at the micrometer and nanometer scale during their activation and their function as catalysts. These studies have led to fundamental insights into the distribution of active sites and the mechanism of molecular diffusion and deactivation phenomena in zeolite and Fischer-Tropsch catalysts. Specifically, spatial heterogeneities in activity, selectivity and coking within individual ZSM‑5 zeolite crystals were detected using a novel combination of micro-spectroscopy and rate data and interpreted in terms of complex but broadly applicable zeolite intergrowth models directly relevant to molecular diffusion and to mesoporosity generation during synthesis. In other studies, X‑ray microscopy combined with an in-situ reactor led to unprecedented details of nanoscale processes involved in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, especially as they pertain to the dynamic evolution and the catalytic relevance of the various inorganic and organic phases formed during catalysis.