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Chemist develops process that allows iron to serve as platinum catalyst
by
Bob Yirka, Phys.org
—
last modified
10-19-12 07:37 AM
Copyright 2012, Phys.org
Paul Chirik, a chemistry professor at Princeton University has, according to a profile in the New York Times, developed a process that allows ordinary iron to be used as a substitute catalyst in certain reactions that up till now have required platinum.
Native Platinum nugget, locality Kondyor mine, Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. Credit: Wikipedia.
Platinum is very expensive, roughly $22,000 a pound and is used as a catalyst to make many popular products such as the denim in jeans and beer. The reason it's expensive is because it is relatively rare and most of it is mined in just two countries, Russia and South Africa. For this reason, chemists have been looking at ways to use other materials as a catalyst to reduce the reliance on rare metals. More...
http://phys.org/news/2012-10-chemist-iron-platinum-catalyst.html
http://phys.org/news/2012-10-chemist-iron-platinum-catalyst.html
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