Tanaka Precious Metals received the 2nd Catalyst Industry Association Award

TANAKA Holdings Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Executive President: Koichiro Tanaka) announced that TANAKA Precious Metals Industries Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Executive President: Koichiro Tanaka), which is engaged in the manufacturing business of the TANAKA Precious Metals Group, has won the "2020 Catalyst Industry Association Technology Award" from the Catalyst Industry Association for its "Development of Hydrophobic Precious Metal Catalysts" jointly researched and developed with the National Research and Development Corporation Quantum Science and Technology Research Organization (Quantum Science and Technology Research Organization Headquarters: Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, Chairman: Toshio Hirano). The award certificate was presented at the "2020 Catalyst Industry Association Award Ceremony" held online on October 14, and Hitoshi Kubo of TANAKA Precious Metals Industries and Yasunori Iwai of Quantum Science and Technology Research Organization delivered commemorative speeches respectively.

Hydrophobic precious metal catalysts

Hydrophobic precious metal catalysts floating on water

"Hydrophobic precious metal catalysts" with few product examples

The hydrophobic precious metal catalyst that won the Technology Award is a room temperature hydrogen oxidation technology jointly developed by Tanaka Precious Metals and Ryoken, and is used in nuclear fusion research facilities such as ITER. As mentioned above, this precious metal catalyst is used when oxidizing hydrogen, and its characteristic is that it has "hydrophobicity" that can maintain the catalytic reaction even at room temperature. Since the surface of the previous catalyst will be covered by the moisture contained in the treatment gas and the water vapor generated by the reaction, the catalyst reaction will stop, so it is necessary to prevent it from being covered by water vapor caused by heating. In addition, the commonly used plastic-based catalysts have the problem of being not heat-resistant, such as burning due to the increase in catalyst temperature caused by the reaction.

In this development, an inorganic material that is more heat-resistant and radiation-resistant than plastic is used as the carrier as the catalyst base. By giving it a hydrophobic group (a substance that is difficult to mix with water), the carrier surface is evenly covered to make it hydrophobic, thus having both heat resistance and hydrophobicity. In an internal evaluation of Tanaka Precious Metals Industries, it was confirmed that the precious metal catalyst coated with platinum on this carrier can maintain hydrophobicity for 24 hours at a temperature of 450°C.

By using this catalyst, not only in nuclear fusion facilities, but also in the oxidation treatment of hydrogen and combustible gases, a heater is not required, so it can be treated in an environment without outdoor power supply or when there is a power outage due to a disaster. Considering the effective use of its hydrophobic characteristics, it is believed that it can be applied to safety equipment to prevent explosion disasters, especially in the construction of infrastructure for a hydrogen energy society.

["2020 Catalyst Industry Association Technology Award" award content]

• Recognition Category: Technology Award

• Name of the winner:

• Tanaka Takami Metal Industry Co., Ltd. Hitoshi Kubo

• Iwai Yasunori, National Research and Development Organization for Quantum Science and Technology

• Winning Topic: "Development of Hydrophobic Precious Metal Catalysts"

The Catalyst Industry Association was established by catalyst manufacturers, catalyst-related material manufacturers, and catalyst product management companies to promote the development of a healthy catalyst industry. It is an industry group that represents the catalyst industry in Japan and is participated by major catalyst manufacturers. This commendation system is a system in which the Catalyst Industry Association recognizes outstanding catalyst-related advanced technologies and technologies that have made great contributions to the catalyst industry in the year as "Technology Award", "Meritorious Service Award", and "Special Award".

※ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is a large-scale international project to scientifically and technically verify the feasibility of using nuclear fusion energy for peaceful purposes and to realize the first nuclear fusion experimental reactor in human history. The ITER project is participated by seven parties including Japan, Europe, the United States, Russia, South Korea, China, and India, and aims to start operation in 2025.