There is a lot of info out there. Might have seen it and forgot I had. Still if anyone finds something new, please post.
From Minweb site.
Industrial uses of gold
Gold has traditionally been used in jewellery and as a store of wealth - a noble metal, and therefore considered to have limited potential for interesting chemistry. When used in industry, the main concern has been to make use of the metal's stability, for example in coatings and circuit-board connectors. On the other hand, platinum group metals (PGMs), have been exploited for their chemical properties, with the result that most PGM production is used in industrial applications. Catalytic converters on motor vehicles is probably the best known example.
However, over the past few years there has been increasing recognition that gold, in the form of nanoscale particles, does indeed have unique and interesting chemical and catalytic properties, opening the door for the development of industrial applications. One significant advantage of gold-based catalysts is that the useful chemical effects "kick-in" at much lower temperatures than PGM-based devices. This is the key to a winning range of technological applications based on gold.
Project AuTEK is a joint venture between Mintek, AngloGold Ashanti, Goldfields and Harmony, to exploit industrial applications of gold. There are two main thrusts - catalytic properties and biomedical applications:
* R&D on the catalysed oxidation of carbon monoxide for air purification at room temperature. One example of this type of application is in respirators. A consortium has been assembled to scale up production of the gold-based catalyst for this end-use.
* Operating a gasoline engine under lean conditions improves overall fuel efficiency. However, standard catalytic converters are not good at removing NOx from the exhaust of these lean-burn engines. A collaborative project with the University of Leiden (the Netherlands) and the University of Louis Pasteur (France) is developing gold-based catalysts for the reduction of these NOx emissions.
* A joint project with SASOL (South Africa's world-class synfuels company) to investigate the potential for gold-based catalysts in the chemical industries.
* Biomedical investigations to use some unique properties of gold-based drugs, which can, for example, selectively target cancer tumors without damaging surrounding healthy tissue. |
