DuPont future developments

Silicon is undoubtedly the material which has been most often applied for microfluidic applications, especially in the field of analysis systems. Detailed information has also been obtained for a number of microreactor components and some of them are already commercially available. Even more striking, first experiments with integrated systems have been reported by DuPont [8]. However, silicon components did not find a broad use in industrial applications, especially in the field of synthetic chemistry. For this purpose, future developments have to address a broader variety of components than those mentioned above, including e.g. heat exchangers, extractors and others, and the feasibility of the fabrication of integrated systems has to be demonstrated in more detail. 

BP has investments in an ethanol plant with DuPont and Associated British Foods. It is also investing in cellulosic ethanol research and developing jatropha as a biodiesel feedstock. BP and DuPont are planning a biobutanol demonstration plant and BP would like to eventually convert their ethanol plant to biobutanol production. BP has a 400 million investment with Associated British Foods and DuPont to build a bioethanol plant in the U.K. that may be converted to biobutanol. It has spent 500 million over 10 years at the Energy Biosciences Institute in California to research future biofuels and 9.4 million over 10 years to fund the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in India to study the production of biodiesel from Jatropha curcas. It also has a 160 million joint venture with D1 Oils to develop the planting of Jatropha curcas. 

The fundamentals of instrument design on an elementary level are discussed by Carlson (3). Discussions of instrumentation from a point of view of manufacturers specifications is presented in two older articles (20, 21). Among the manufacturers listed in Evans article (21), Hewlett-Packard and E.I. duPont no longer manufacture instruments. It is advisable to consult current manufacturers for up to date specifications of instrumentation. Development of instrumentation has not kept pace with recent activity in the field and hopefully instrument manufacturers currently manufacturing instruments will devote more effort to development in the future. 

Hydroxypropanoic acid (3HPA) is under development as a future platform chemical and monomer derived from biomass. It is, at the present time, not produced on an industrial scale, either chemically or biotechnologically. 3HPA could be a key compound for the production of biomass-derived C3 intermediates, such as acrylic acid, acrylic amide and malonic acid (see Fig. 8.11). Hydrogenation of 3HPA would provide a competing procedure for the production of 1,3PD (see Section 8.2.4) that could be more economical than the DuPont and Shell processes [65]. 

Peroxide hazard classification expert systems development at FM/Norwood is presently on hold until some of the resources noted become available. We have a way to go before a fully validated classification model is complete. At the same time, we are continuing to explore the possibility of using chemical database programs such as those available from Molecular Design Inc. and the University of Santiago, Chile (ARIUSA) as components of our chemical hazard expert systems. We are also looking at chemical databases on optical disc such as those available from DuPont, Aldrich, Micromedix and the Canadian Center for Occupational Safety and Health as components of future systems. 

Leading indicators are those measures that can be effective in predicting future safety performance (Dupont Corporation 2000). Leading indicators can be considered before-the-fact measures. These measures assess outcome actions taken before accidents occur and are measures of proactive efforts designed to minimize losses and prevent accidents. Leading indicators can help uncover weaknesses in the organization s operations or employee behaviors before they develop into full-fledged problems. 

Since perfluorinated PEM, Nation, was developed by the Dupont Company in the 1960s, it has an over 50 years of history. The tremendous fundamental and applied research results built up over these decades on the membrane, which contribute to much deeper understanding of the membrane and the wider application of the membrane. In the foreseeable future, perfluorinated PEM continues to be the most widely studied and employed membrane for PEMECs due to its excellent oxidative stability and superior proton conductivity. However, there are some drawbacks for perfluorinated PEM such as poor mechanical and chemical stability and poor performance at elevated temperature, insufficient resistance to methanol crossover, and high cost. Both chemical and physical modifications on the membrane are the current and future hot points of researcher works. At the same time, a better understanding of the membrane nanostructures and their relationship to the proton transport mechanism is needed to enhance the performance of the membrane. 

The author worked in photoscience and photoimaging for thirty years in various capacities for the DuPont Company. Many of the ideas and concepts presented here were developed as a direct consequence of the interactions with fellow workers in DuPont. The author acknowledges this debt with gratitude. The author also appreciates several conversations about the future of photopolymer science with Dr. Edwin Chandross and Dr. George Hammond. 

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