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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 59, Issue 4, October 2015 Published by Johnson Matthey www.technology.matthey.com © Copyright 2015 Johnson Matthey Johnson Matthey Technology Review is published by Johnson Matthey Plc. All rights are reserved. Material from this publication may be reproduced for personal use only but may not be offered for re-sale or incorporated into, reproduced on, or stored in any website, electronic retrieval system, or in any other publication, whether in hard copy or electronic form, without the prior written permission of Johnson Matthey. Any such copy shall retain all copyrights and other proprietary notices, and any disclaimer contained thereon, and must acknowledge Johnson Matthey Technology Review and Johnson Matthey as the source. No warranties, representations or undertakings of any kind are made in relation to any of the content of this publication including the accuracy, quality or fi tness for any purpose by any person or organisation. 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 59, Issue 4, October 2015 291 Guest Editorial: Water Technologies at Johnson Matthey By Nick Garner 293 “Heavy Metals in Water: Presence, Removal and Safety” A book review by Edward Rosenberg 298 “Particle-Stabilized Emulsions and Colloids: Formation and Applications” A book review by Cecilia Bernardini 303 Interplay between Silver and Gold Nanoparticles in Production of Hydrogen from Methanol By Hany M. AbdelDayem 313 Carbon Formation in Steam Reforming and Effect of Potassium Promotion By Mikael Carlsson 319 “Electrochemical Power Sources: Batteries, Fuel Cells, and Supercapacitors” A book review by Billy Wu 322 Selective Removal of Mercury from Gold Bearing Streams By James G. Stevens 331 In the Lab: Uranium Capture From High Sulfate and Nitrate Waste Streams with Modifi ed Silica Polyamine Composites Featuring Professor Edward Rosenberg 334 New Smopex® Ion Exchange Materials for the Removal of Selenium from Industrial Effl uent Streams By Carl Mac Namara, Javier Torroba and Adam Deacon 353 Johnson Matthey Highlights http://dx.doi.org/10.1595/205651315X688037 Johnson Matthey Technol. Rev., 2015, 59, (4), 291–292 JOHNSON MATTHEY TECHNOLOGY REVIEW www.technology.matthey.com Guest Editorial Water Technologies at Johnson Matthey In this issue the theme is water remediation. Johnson need to clean up effl uents from industrial processes Matthey is working on a number of high technology such as mining, agriculture and manufacturing. purifi cation products for applications in the water Pollutants including metals, non-metals and organic industry. We are focusing our research and development compounds may be present due to either man-made or efforts on creating technology to remove a range of low natural processes. level toxic contaminants, such as mercury, from water. An example of such a pollutant, selenium, is discussed Johnson Matthey is known for its expertise in adsorbent in the article by Mac Namara et al. in the present issue materials, such as Smopex®, with which readers of this of the Johnson Matthey Technology Review (3). In journal may be familiar for their use in the recovery of this article the performance and mechanisms of a new precious metals from both waste and product streams material based on the Smopex® range of ion exchange (1, 2). In 2013 the company acquired further advanced materials is described for Se remediation in effl uents ion exchange technology from Purity Systems Inc, from coal combustion plants and oil refi neries. A common forming the company’s Water Technologies business. co-contaminant is sulfur which poses signifi cant This combination of technology fi ts well with Johnson problems for previous generations of ion exchangers, Matthey’s core competences in advanced materials and although the technique of ion exchange offers attractive catalysts. We place particular emphasis on some key benefi ts over existing technologies (whether chemical challenges facing the mining and chemicals industries, or biological) which all have disadvantages in terms where problem contaminants, increasing legislative of high cost or high volumes of materials required. requirements and focus on environmental and cost Strong-base functionalised materials were identifi ed issues often mean current technologies are being by Johnson Matthey as being the most promising stretched. candidates for selective sorption of selenium ions and the article presents results and fundamental studies on Providing Effective Solutions these materials showing promising results in both fi xed bed and continuous stirred tank reactor trials. The need for clean water is of major signifi cance across Gold mining is another area which suffers from the the world, with growing populations requiring access presence of water soluble pollutants, in this case to improved quality water resources. Environmental species of the heavy metal mercury which is frequently legislation and regulation mean that there is increasing associated with gold in ore deposits. The health and From mining to molecules – Johnson Matthey’s innovative processes and advanced scavenger technologies, built on and underpinned by continuous research and development, can help recover valuable metals and purify active pharmaceutical ingredients 291 © 2015 Johnson Matthey http://dx.doi.org/10.1595/205651315X688037 Johnson Matthey Technol. Rev., 2015, 59, (4) environmental implications of mercury are well-known, naturally occurring substances, bioremediation and even however it is a major challenge to remove the mercury waste products are in use for removing heavy metals from the gold processing circuit; technical diffi culties from water – but more technically advanced materials also exist since the most widely used method for are required for heavy metal contamination arising from extracting gold, employing cyanide as lixiviant, also high technology industries in developed countries. For extracts mercury and other metals along with the gold. example, ion exchange is the go-to technology in the It is therefore essential to identify a method that will USA, where it constitutes a multi-billion dollar a year remove only the mercury; any loss of gold during the market. The technique of ion exchange shows great process is deemed unacceptable. Johnson Matthey promise to help remediate wastewater streams around has now developed solid adsorbents which can achieve the world and provide safer, cleaner water for greater selective adsorption of mercury from gold cyanide numbers of people than ever before. bearing process streams and the technique is described in detail in this issue of the journal (4). Testing of the NICK GARNER material in real process feeds is described and a pilot Group Director, Corporate and Strategic plant trial is now underway in Nevada, USA. Development Johnson Matthey Plc, Orchard Road, Royston, A Collaborative Approach Hertfordshire, SG8 5HE, UK Johnson Matthey is always open to new collaborative Email: [email protected] efforts to solve problems for our customers. One such collaboration is with Professor Edward Rosenberg, References University of Montana, USA. He develops advanced silica polyamine composite materials for metal ion 1. S. Phillips and P. Kauppinen, Platinum Metals Rev., separations and recovery from industrial and mining 2010, 54, (1), 69 waste streams. Most recently these materials are being 2. J. Frankham and P. Kauppinen, Platinum Metals Rev., applied for uranium remediation with the University of 2010, 54, (3), 200 the Witwatersrand in South Africa, and a forthcoming 3. C. Mac Namara, J. Torroba and A. Deacon, Johnson article in this journal is expected to present some further Matthey Technol. Rev., 2015, 59, (4), 334 details on this project. 4. J. G. Stevens, Johnson Matthey Technol. Rev., 2015, It is worth noting that many techniques based on 59, (4), 322 292 © 2015 Johnson Matthey http://dx.doi.org/10.1595/205651315X689009 Johnson Matthey Technol. Rev., 2015, 59, (4), 293–297 JOHNSON MATTHEY TECHNOLOGY REVIEW www.technology.matthey.com “Heavy Metals in Water: Presence, Removal and Safety” Edited by Sanjay K. Sharma (Jaipur Engineering College and Research Centre (JECRC), India), Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, UK, 2015, 357 pages, ISBN: 978-1-84973-885-9, £175.00, €218.75, US$290.00 Reviewed by Edward Rosenberg production where more technically advanced, but more Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry expensive materials are employed in the industrially University of Montana, Missoula, Montana 59812, USA developed countries. The specifi c metal contamination problems presented are arsenic (Chapter 5), iron and Email: [email protected] manganese (Chapter 6), fl uoride (Chapter 13) and chromium (Chapter 16), with the remaining chapters dealing with techniques and general surveys of heavy Introduction metal contamination. Chapters 7 and 8 stand out as chapters that deal with Chinese government policies “Heavy Metals in Water: Presence, Removal and on toxic metal contamination and should be very useful Safety” is published by the Royal Society of Chemistry for foreign entrepreneurs wanting to establish new and consists of 16 independent chapters. The chapters businesses in metals related industries. can be broadly divided into