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ISSN 2056-5135 JOHNSON MATTHEY TECHNOLOGY REVIEW Johnson Matthey’s international journal of research exploring science and technology in industrial applications Volume 61, Issue 3, July 2017 Published by Johnson Matthey www.technology.matthey.com © Copyright 2017 Johnson Matthey Johnson Matthey Technology Review is published by Johnson Matthey Plc. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share, copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any lawful purpose. You must give appropriate credit to the author and publisher. You may not use the material for commercial purposes without prior permission. You may not distribute modified material without prior permission. The rights of users under exceptions and limitations, such as fair use and fair dealing, are not affected by the CC licenses. www.technology.matthey.com JOHNSON MATTHEY TECHNOLOGY REVIEW www.technology.matthey.com Johnson Matthey’s international journal of research exploring science and technology in industrial applications Contents Volume 61, Issue 3, July 2017 170 Guest Editorial: Industry and Sustainability By Deirdre Black 172 Methanol Production – A Technical History By Daniel Sheldon 183 One Hundred Years of Gauze Innovation By Hannah Frankland, Chris Brown, Helen Goddin, Oliver Kay and Torsten Bünnagel 190 Osmium vs. ‘Ptène’: The Naming of the Densest Metal By Rolf Haubrichs and Pierre-Léonard Zaffalon 196 The ‘Nano-to-Nano’ Effect Applied to Organic Synthesis in Water By Bruce H. Lipshutz 203 “Sustainability Calling: Underpinning Technologies” A book review by Niyati Shukla and Massimo Peruffo 207 Highlights of the Impacts of Green and Sustainable Chemistry on Industry, Academia and Society in the USA By Anne Marteel-Parrish and Karli M. Newcity 222 UK Energy Storage Conference A conference review by Jacqueline Edge 227 “Particle Technology and Engineering: An Engineer’s Guide to Particles and Powders: Fundamentals and Computational Approaches” A book review by Domenico Daraio, Giuseppe Raso and Michele Marigo 231 Organometallic Catalysis and Sustainability: From Origin to Date By Justin D. Smith, Fabrice Gallou and Sachin Handa 246 Industrial Low Pressure Hydroformylation: Forty-Five Years of Progress for the LP OxoSM Process By Richard Tudor and Atul Shah 257 Two Hundred Proud Years – the Bicentenary of Johnson Matthey By W. P. Griffith 262 Johnson Matthey Highlights http://dx.doi.org/10.1595/205651317X695857 Johnson Matthey Technol. Rev., 2017, 61, (3), 170–171 JOHNSON MATTHEY TECHNOLOGY REVIEW www.technology.matthey.com Guest Editorial Industry and Sustainability This themed issue focuses on ‘Sustainable Industry’ opportunities to pursue sustainable options – and from the perspective of research advances and challenges in pursing them – all along a value chain. technological solutions. Starting with a high level policy The specifics depend on company size and business context, it is clear that the roles and responsibilities area, but many companies are including an explicit of industry are broader than technology and go way narrative about sustainability in their strategy and beyond what happens within industry. identity. People have been thinking about the issues and Companies are building thinking about sustainability options encompassed in the word ‘sustainability’ for into their business models and operations. Products decades. An important example is the “Limits to Growth” and components can be designed for reuse or report from the Club of Rome (1). This organisation recycling, to last longer or to be lighter. Companies are started as an informal group of “scientists, educators, committing to using energy from renewable sources, to economists, humanists, industrialists, and national and reducing the use of water in manufacturing, to working international civil servants” and the 1972 report was for together through industrial symbiosis and colocation its ‘Project on the Predicament of Mankind’. of raw material sourcing, component production, Today, the language and approach to sustainability manufacturing and waste management. focuses on solutions and opportunities as well as In terms of the science and technology innovation understanding “predicaments” and “problems”. In 2015 focus of this journal there are many promising research world leaders adopted the Sustainable Development advances: catalysis to increase energy efficiency, Goals which are at the core of the United Nations (UN) reduce dependence on platinum group metals, recycle 2030 agenda for sustainable development (2); that carbon dioxide or enable nitrogen fixation; green is “development that meets the needs of the present chemistry; reducing the use of solvents or improving without compromising the ability of future generations their recycling or disposal; and bio-based feedstocks to meet their own needs” (3). enabling reduction in energy use and environmental Sustainability has many facets, each with layers, impacts associated with raw material extraction or interactions and tensions. One dimension is trade-offs production. in terms of what is sustainable from environmental, public health, economic and societal perspectives. The Voice of Industry Another is balance between short-term options and long-term consequences. A third dimension is impacts The importance of industry in the sustainability and solutions on local, national and global scales. A agenda lies also in informing, influencing and fourth element is people, behaviour and accountability implementing policy. Many issues fit under the across individual citizens, organisations, companies ‘sustainability-related policy’ umbrella – from broad and policymakers. areas like energy, climate, air, food and water to specific topics like chemicals regulation and waste Sustainable Industry management. Industry can also influence research and innovation policy as an advocate for funding One lens for seeing the key role of industry in for research and development on sustainable sustainability looks within companies. There are technologies. 170 © 2017 Johnson Matthey http://dx.doi.org/10.1595/205651317X695857 Johnson Matthey Technol. Rev., 2017, 61, (3) Leaders in industry are being proactive in making area can often have a positive impact on another. the business as well as the environmental case for An example is transport where reducing the number sustainability and at the same time policymakers of journeys, increasing engine efficiency, switching increasingly recognise the need to include a business to non-fossil fuels or using electric vehicles usually perspective and its value in identifying realistic options. reduces both carbon dioxide emission and air pollution. This is visible for climate change where Christiana To be truly sustainable, opportunities to develop and Figueres, the UN diplomat at the heart of the 2015 deploy environmentally sustainable solutions must 21st Conference of the Parties (COP-21) process and also be societally and economically sustainable. The the Paris Agreement, has been unequivocal about division of risk, responsibility and reward between the the importance of having industry at the table: “We’re public and private sectors will vary by issue, place and delighted that at every COP, we are able to open that time. What is clear is that industry is pivotal in achieving door more and more to the recognition of business” (4). sustainable development, because of what companies On the industry side there are perspectives from do and because of what leaders in industry say. groups like the World Business Council for Sustainable Development chaired by Paul Polman, Unilever CEO: DEIRDRE BLACK “The reality is, if we don’t tackle climate change we won’t Science Manager achieve economic growth” (5). Or the Risky Business Royal Society of Chemistry, Thomas Graham House, project quantifying the economic risks of climate Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge, CB4 0WF, UK change, such as a likely US$35 billion increase in the Email: [email protected] annual average price tag associated with hurricanes and other coastal storms in the USA (6). References Another example of the industry-policy-sustainability 1. D. H. Meadows, D. L. Meadows, J. Randers and W. W. interplay is the May 2016 United Nations Environmental Behrens III, “The Limits to Growth”, Universe Books, Programme resolution on Sound Management of New York, USA, 1972 Chemicals and Waste (7), calling on the private sector 2. Resolution Adopted by the General Assembly on 25 to play a significant role in financing and capacity September 2015, ‘Transforming our World: The 2030 building and inviting industry to join other stakeholders Agenda for Sustainable Development’, A/RES/70/1, in supporting the Global Partnership on Waste United Nations, General Assembly, New York, USA, Management. 21st October, 2015 This is paralleled by the Responsible Care® initiative 3. ‘Our Common Future, Chapter 2: Towards Sustainable from the International Council of Chemical Associations Development’, from “Our Common Future: Report and by participation of industry in the development of the World Commission on Environment and of regulation like the European Regulation on Development”, A/42/427, UN Documents, United Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction Nations, Secretary General, New York, USA, 4th of Chemicals (REACH) or the US Toxic Substances August, 1987 Control Act (TSCA) and in new areas like microplastics 4. J. Makower, ‘Christiana Figueres: Why business and persistent