University
of Minnesota discovery to improve efficiencies in fuel, chemical and
pharmaceutical industries
Breakthrough
could reduce costs for the consumer
MINNEAPOLIS
/ ST. PAUL (06/28/2012) —University of Minnesota engineering researchers are
leading an international team that has made a major breakthrough in developing
a catalyst used during chemical reactions in the production of gasoline,
plastics, biofuels, pharmaceuticals, and other chemicals. The discovery could
lead to major efficiencies and cost-savings in these multibillion-dollar
industries.
The
research is to be published in the June 29, 2012 issue of the leading
scientific journal Science.
“The impact
of this new discovery is enormous,” said the team’s lead researcher Michael
Tsapatsis, a chemical engineering and materials science professor in the University
of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering. “Every drop of gasoline we use
needs a catalyst to change the oil molecules into usable gasoline during the
refining process.”
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