Engineering Professor Discovers Catalytic Process.

Pollution Engineering, August, 2001

Israel E. Wachs, an engineering professor at Lehigh University, of Bethlehem, Pa., has discovered and patented a catalytic process that could help save paper mills millions of dollars each year by converting a polluting byproduct into formaldehyde. Tested by Georgia-Pacific Corp. in mobile plants for two years, this method succeeded in converting a methanol-water waste stream contaminated by sulfur compounds and small amounts of hydrocarbons known as terpenes into formaldehyde. The process also significantly minimizes most of the emissions of [CO.sub.2] and [SO.sub.2], two potentially harmful byproducts of traditional pollution control methods. A mill producing 2,000 tons of pulp per day would save between $500,000 and $1 million a year using this system, according to...

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