Even though I\u2019ve worked as a chemical engineer most of my life, I\u2019m dedicated to ongoing professional development.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m a firm believer in remaining \u201ccurrent\u201d, particularly when it comes to the latest trends and developments in environmental chemistry.<\/p>\n
And besides that, this stuff is really interesting (for chemical engineers, anyway!).<\/p>\n
So last December, I jumped at the chance to attend the Pacifichem 2010 International Chemical Congress.<\/p>\n
Held every five years, this congress represents the gathering of the best and most recent cutting-edge research from the Pacific Rim countries.<\/p>\n
More than 13,000 research papers were presented from countries including the USA, China, Japan and Australia.<\/p>\n
There were papers being delivered across 10 fields of chemistry in 71 different lecture theaters simultaneously, so the size of this conference was impressive.<\/p>\n
Given it would have been impossible for me to be in all different places at once, I focussed on environmental chemistry.<\/p>\n
My absolute highlight at the conference was hearing discussions about the development of the direct conversion of water into hydrogen and oxygen using solar-powered chemical cells.<\/p>\n
This is the \u201cHoly Grail\u201d of sustainable energy where sunlight converts water directly into hydrogen and oxygen at room temperature and pressure.<\/p>\n
This is an attractive way to create storable solar fuel from water.<\/p>\n
The energy efficiency of these cells is already at 10 per cent of visible light.<\/p>\n
Not bad when compared to plant photosynthesis at six per cent. Hydrogen is already in use as a transport fuel in new \u201cgreen\u201d vehicles.<\/p>\n
A number of researchers around the world are focussing on this problem.<\/p>\n
There is significant funding from the US Government as this can potentially reduce the reliance on oil as a transport fuel.<\/p>\n
Already prototype solar cells based on this chemistry are under construction.<\/p>\n
The leader in this field is the Research Triangle Solar Fuels Institute based in North Carolina, USA, which believes this technology will be available before 2020.<\/p>\n
This is very exciting, not just for chemical engineers, but for all humans who share this planet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Even though I\u2019ve worked as a chemical engineer most of my life, I\u2019m dedicated to ongoing professional development. I\u2019m a firm believer in remaining \u201ccurrent\u201d, particularly when it comes to the latest trends and developments in environmental chemistry. And besides that, this stuff is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,90,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environmental-conferences","category-green-technology","category-uncategorised"],"yoast_head":"\n