Cleanroom companies could make hydrogen peroxide on site, say researchers
Researchers in the UK and the US have developed an energy-efficient way of producing the cleaning chemical hydrogen peroxide, allowing companies operating cleanrooms to make it themselves.
Current manufacturing methods are so energy intensive they require bulk production in high concentrations, usually by specialist companies. But the EU-funded AURICAT project found that catalysing the chemical with gold and palladium alloy nanoparticles reduced the energy required for this process.
Professor Christopher Kiely, of Lehigh University in the US, said this made “the direct process more economically viable.” He told a European Commission briefing note: “We found it was important for the palladium to incorporate just a small amount of gold.”
Working with Professor Graham Hutchings, of Cardiff University in Wales, he found the system could “underpin the generation of [hydrogen peroxide] at the 3% to 8% concentration levels required in most chemical applications”.
The Commission note added: “Crucially, the process could allow users of hydrogen peroxide to produce the chemical on site in the quantities required.”