A ruthenium catalyst has been used in the development of a new CO₂ separation technique, it has been reported.

Chemical and Engineering reports that scientists used a ruthenium catalyst immobilized on silica to create a virtually 100 per cent yield of g-valerolactone, which is transported into a separation chamber as it forms and can then be used with levulinic acid to help partition CO₂, leaving behind water and unreacted levulinic acid.

The researchers claim that this approach is far more effective at creating g-valerolactone than the current patented method, which involves dissolving levulinic acid in dioxane so as to pump it into the reactor.

That requires g-valerolactone to then be separated from the unreacted levulinic acid, dioxane and water, but this new approach reduces the amount of separation required, the researchers have claimed.

Source:

Novel CO₂-based solvent systems meld reaction and separation steps into continuous processes, 19/11'2007
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/85/8547sci2.html

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