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EDITORS
G.J. Hutchings, Cardiff University, Wales, UK
Department of Chemistry, PO Box 912,
Cardiff CF10 3TB, UK, fax: (þ44-29) 20874075,
e-mail: hutch@cardiff.ac.uk
B.H. Davis, University of Kentucky, Center for Applied Energy
Research, 2540 Research Park Drive, Lexington, KY 40511-8433,
USA, fax: (þ1-859) 2570302, e-mail: davis@caer.uky.edu
NEWS BRIEF CORRESPONDENTS
A. Br űckner, Institut fur Angewandte Chemie, Berlin, Germany
V. Corte¤ s Corbera¤ n, Instituto de Catalisis y Petroleoquimica,
Madrid, Spain
C. Flego, Enitecnologie SpA, San Donato, Milan, Italy
S. Go“ bo« lo«s, Institute of Chemistry, Budapest, Hungary
J.-M. Millet, Inst. De Recherches sur la Catalyse CNRS,
Villeurbanne Cedex, France
A. Miyamoto, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
J.Ryczkowski,Universityof Maria-Curie-Sklodowska,Lublin,Poland
M. Scurrell,Universityof Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
K. Seshan, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
Y. Sun, Inst. of Coal Chemistry, Taiyuan, China

Applied Catalysis A: General Volume 295, issue 1
13 OCTOBER 2005

doi:10.1016/j.apcata.2005.09.001
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Report on Summer School on Environmental Cata-
lysis and Energy
The Summer School on Environmental Catalysis and
Energy organised by Professor J.R.H. Ross (University
of Limerick, Ireland) under the auspices of the Irish
Catalysis Society and the Surface Reactivity and Cata-
lysis Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry was held in
the University of Limerick from 3rd to 8th July, 2005.
Participants (around 40) came from all over Europe
and the United States. A series of tutors, both academic
and industrial, lectured on all aspects of catalysis, with a
particular emphasis on the applications of catalysis in
relation to energy, environmental considerations and sus-
tainable development. Several lectures were also given
on the use of catalysis literature, particularly electronic
media, and the preparation of papers, posters and oral
presentations. The lectures were backed up by structured
discussions on the issues raised at the end of each day.
The main topics of the summer school were:

General Introduction to Catalysis and ‘‘Green Cata-
lysis’’

Biocatalysis and the use of biofeedstocks

Fischer Tropsch synthesis

Production and use of Hydrogen as a fuel

Experimental methods

Automotive catalysis, in particular de-NOx methods

Preparation of scientific papers and presentations
The opening lecture was given by Dr. J. N. Armor (Global
Catalysis, USA) on a general introduction to environmen-
tal catalysis, its applications and the opportunities for its
development. Professor J. J. Spivey (Louisiana State
University, USA) gave a detailed overview on the funda-
mental aspects of heterogeneous catalysis. Professor E.
Tsang (University of Reading, UK) gave a general intro-
duction to ‘‘green catalysis’’, an area that was elaborated
upon by Professor J. A. Anderson (University of Aberd-
een, UK) in his lecture on enantioselective catalysis.
The application of catalytic technology to reduce material,
water and energy consumption was discussed in several
lectures. Biocatalysis enables renewable resources, such
as forests, grasslands, wheat and corn, to become the
new raw materials for our production and energy needs.
The great benefits of using such catalysis over traditional
industrial chemical processes is that the biochemical
transformations typically proceed at much lower tempera-
tures, require little or no petroleum-based energy and raw
material and can be designed to produce remarkably
complex products with great specificity and minimal toxic
byproducts, thus making them more environmentally
benign. An overview of biocatalysis was give by Dr. Armor
and subsequently Dr. M. Lok (Johnson Matthey, UK)
discussed its applications in terms of the production of
biodiesel and the use of glycerine. Other applications
involving biomass in fine chemical synthesis were dis-
cussed by Professor Ross. It was generally agreed that a
critical element in the development of this area will involve
a strong interdisciplinary research programme, with col-
Applied Catalysis A: General
laboration between chemists, chemical engineers, bio-
chemists and other biological scientists.
Another subject that was examined in depth was the
development of alternative fuels which could be used
in place of gasoline. Three main alternatives were dis-
cussed. Firstly, as addressed by Dr. M. Lok and Dr. F.
Meunier (Queen’s University, Belfast, Ireland), biomass-
based synthetic fuels were considered as an alternative
fuel source. From the gasification of such biomass mate-
rials as wood, charcoal or peat, to the production of bio-oil
from the fast pyrolysis of biomass and its use in gen-
erating electricity, the opportunities for establishing an
alternative fuel reserve appear immense.
The production of alternative fuels using Fischer Tropsch
synthesis was also reviewed. Professor J. W. Niemants-
verdriet (Eindhoven University of Technolgy, The Nether-
lands) delivered a molecular view of the fundamental
aspects of syngas and Fischer-Tropsch catalysis. Dr.
Lok expanded on this and discussed the combination of
Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and biomass gasification as a
very promising route to produce renewable, ‘‘green’’
transportation fuels. This method involves gasification
of the biomass to yield a biosyngas rich in H2 and CO,
cleaning the syngas and using it as feed gas for a
Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reactor where the H2 and
CO are converted into long-chain hydrocarbons that
are subsequently converted into ‘‘green diesel’’ in a
post-processing step.
Thirdly, the use of hydrogen as a fuel was discussed. It
had been pointed out that there are three key issues
which must be considered in the development of a
‘‘hydrogen economy’’. Firstly it must be possible to pro-
duce the hydrogen in a safe, affordable manner. The
production of hydrogen using coal, natural gas, nuclear
energy, or renewable energy (wind, solar, biomass) was
detailed by Dr. Armor. The storage and transport of
the hydrogen is another issue which was addressed
by Professor Tsang. Finally, Dr. J. A. Sullivan (University
College Dublin, Ireland) described the end use of
hydrogen in fuel cells powering vehicles and in pro-
ducing electricity and heat for residential and industrial
buildings.
Another topic which was discussed at length was auto-
motive catalysis. A general overview on the current
methods of reducing vehicular emissions was given by
Dr. Sullivan while Dr. Meunier discussed the problem of
removing NOx from lean-burn engines and stationary
power sources. Following on from this, Professor Ander-
son extensively detailed the latest research carried out on
NOx traps for the removal of so-called lean- NOx. Sulphur
poisoning is known to be a major cause for deactivation
of such automotive catalysts and possible solutions to
this problem were presented by Dr. R. Ukropec (Univer-
sity of Limerick, Ireland).
Discussion of experimental methods proved to be a very
practical topic, presented by Dr. Ukropec, while related
discussions on the use Operando spectroscopy were
presented by Dr. Armor and Dr. Meunier. These topics
Volume 295, issue 1
13 OCTOBER 2005
 N3

were complemented by visits to the laboratories in the

Materials and Surface Science Institute.
Another practical series of lectures on the preparation of
scientific papers and oral presentations was given by
Professor Niemantsverdriet. This was complemented by
a comprehensive tutorial in relevant electronic resources.
Overall the summer school provided an interesting and
varied look at many different topics relating to Environ-
mental Catalysis and Energy. Its success in stimulating
interest and inspiring lively discussions among all the
participants should encourage a continuation of this par-
ticular summer school.

Orla Keane
Ireland

Hans Niemantverdriet relaxes after a heavy day’s work

A group of participants working on a problem. John Armor also relaxing after a hard day

Jerry Spivey explains a point

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Applied Catalysis A: General Volume 295, issue 1
13 OCTOBER 2005