Background

In 2002, World Gold Council took the initiative in commissioning the preparation of a number of Gold Reference Catalysts, with the main objective of enabling researchers to benchmark their own catalyst formulations against a common reference catalyst, thereby permitting more accurate comparison with other research results.

Three of the Reference Catalysts were gold on oxide supports made by Süd Chemie, Japan under the supervision of Dr Masatake Haruta, with characterisation at AIST, Japan supervised by Dr Susumu Tsubota. The fourth catalyst was gold on carbon produced by Professor Michele Rossi of the University of Milan.

Between 2003 and 2009 over 400 catalyst samples were supplied to numerous organisations including the following:

• 3M
• 3netics Corporation
• Activation
• AE Advanced Engineering Inc.
• Air Products & Chemicals Inc.
• BP Chemical Company
• Cardiff University
• Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France
• CeraMem Corporation
• Charles University
• Chinese Academy of Science
• Consorzio Interuniversitario Nazionale per la Scienza e Tecnologia dei Materiali
• CSIC - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas , Madrid
• Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, China
• Darmstadt University of Technology
• Degussa AG
• Delft University of Technology
• Dow Chemicals USA
• DSM Nutritional Products Ltd.
• Dupont Textiles & Interiors
• Engelhard Corporation
• ETH - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
• Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto
• Federal Agricultural Research Centre, Germany
• Fudan University
• GE India Technology Centre
• GKSS Forschungszentrum
• Heriot-Watt University
• Hong Kong Baptist University
• Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
• Hungarian Academy Sciences
• Instituto de Catalisis y Petroleoquimica CSIC
• Instituto Valencia
• ITN Energy Systems Inc.
• Johnson Matthey Technology Centre, UK
• KRI (Formerly, Kansai Research Institute, Inc.)
• La Roche AG
• Lanzhou Institute, China
• Loughborough University
• Massey University
• Micro Reactor System Co. Ltd.
• Mintek, South Africa
• N.E. Chemcat Corporation
• Navel Research Laboratory
• NE Chemcat
• Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet, Norway
• Northwestern University, USA
• Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Polish Academy of Sciences
• Protec International
• Queens University Belfast
• Ruhr-University Bochum
• Salford University
• Shell International Chemicals
• State University of New York at Binghamton
• Symyx Technologies Inc
• Technical University of Denmark
• Tennessee Valley Authority
• Texas A&M University
• The University of Auckland
• The University of Catania
• The University of New South Wales
• Trinity University
• Tufts University
• Unifine Works Ltd.
• Universal Laser Systems Inc.
• Universidad Industrial de Santander
• Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
• Universidad Politecnica de Valencia
• Università degli Studi di Milano
• Universita Venezia
• Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris
• University College London
• University di Torino
• University Libre De Bruxelles
• University of Arkansas at Little Rock
• University of Bochum
• University of Bologna
• University of Cadiz
• University of California, Berkeley
• University of Cape Town
• University of Glasgow
• University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign
• University of Limerick
• University of Lyon
• University of Massachusetts Amherst
• University of Messina
• University of New Mexico
• University of New South Wales, Australia
• University of Newcastle
• University of Pisa
• University of Poitiers
• University of South Carolina
• University of South Florida
• University of Szeged
• University of Virginia
• University of Virginia
• University of Wisconsin
• Weizmann Institute of Science
• Wella AG
• Yuan Ze University

Catalyst Type	Description	Preparation Method
Type A	Au/TiO2	Deposition Precipitation
Type B	Au/Fe2O3 on alumina beads	Deposition Precipitation
Type C	Au/Fe2O3	Coprecipitation
Type D	Au/C	Gold Sol

 

The following are just a few of the publications containing details of tests carried out on the Gold Reference Catalysts:

• Carrettin et al, Angew, chem. Int. Ed., 2004, 43, 2538-2540
• Milone et al, J. Catal, 2004, 222, 348-356
• Dumesic et al, Science, 2004, 305, 1280-
• Overbury et al J. Phys. Chem. B 2005, 109, 10676-10685
• Kung et al, J. Phys. Chem. B 2005, 109, 10319-10326
• Rousset et al, J. Catal 2005, 230, 476–483
• Galvagno et al, J. Catal 2004, 222, 348
• Corma et al Angew Chem Int Ed, 2004, 43, 2538
• Dumesic et al, J Catal, 2005, 235, 327 - 332
• T. Tabakova, et al, Appl Catal. B: Environmental, 2006, 63(1-2) 94 - 103
• Lopez-Sanchez et al, Applied Catalysis, A: General 2005, 291(1-2), 230-237.
• Al-Sayari et al, Topics in Catalysis, 2007, 44(1-2), 123-128
• Bowker et al, Catalysis Today, 2007, 122 (3-4), 245-247

 

Catalyst samples
With an increasing number of suppliers now providing gold-based catalysts, World Gold Council has taken the decision to stop distribution of Gold Reference Catalysts, which probably no longer reflect the state-of-the-art in terms of activity and selectivity. Samples of commercial gold-based catalysts can be purchased from:

Strem Chemicals

Premier Chemicals

If you require more information please contact: World Gold Council, 10 Old Bailey, London EC4M 7NG
email: industry@gold.org