Gold catalysts pollution control

Palladium was named in honor of the asteroid Pallas, which was discovered in 1802. Pallas was the Greek goddess of wisdom (also known as Pallas Athena). William Hyde Wollaston (1766-1828) discovered palladium in a sample of ore from South America. Although palladium is used in jewelry (white gold contains palladium), its most important commercial use is as a catalyst in pollution-control devices. Its ability to absorb hydrogen may make it an important element for hydrogen fuel technology. 

To increase the effectiveness of recent attempts to combine experimental work using real and model catalysts with theoretical calculations, the effect of moisture should also be considered. Most work in surface science occurs in UHV conditions, while measurements of the activity of real catalysts are conducted in fixed bed flow reactors containing between 1 and 10 ppm moisture. The tolerance of gold catalysis to water is an unexpected advantage, which is particularly valuable in developing new catalyst systems for pollution control and other applications. 

Active carbons are unique and versatile adsorbents, and they are used extensively for the removal of undesirable odor, color, taste, and other organic and inorganic impurities from domestic and industrial waste water, solvent recovery, air purification in inhabited places, restaurants, food processing, and chemical industries in the removal of color from various syrups and pharmaceutical products in air pollution control from industrial and automobile exhausts in the purification of many chemical, pharmaceutical, and food products and in a variety of gas-phase applications. They are being increasingly used in the field of hydrometaUurgy for the recovery of gold, silver, and other metals, and as catalysts and catalyst supports. They are also well known for their applications in medicine for the removal of toxins and bacterial infections in certain ailments. Nearly 80% (-300,000 tons/yr) of the total active carbon is consumed for liquid-phase applications, and the gas-phase applications consume about 20% of the total production. 

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