Chemical Engineering November 2019 - 7

Converting hazardous phenols into luciferin storage materials through February
2020. The high-performance and
highly durable heat-storage materials,
which can store more than twice
the heat per unit volume compared
to existing latent-heat storage materials
were developed by AIST based
on the desiccant Hasclay, which is
named after the raw materials used
to make it - hydroxyl aluminum silicate
and clay.
P
henolic compounds, such as
chloro- and nitrophenols, are
potentially hazardous when
found in soils and the workRO-3066I
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place. Normally, such compounds
are detected with techniques such
as mass spectrometry. There are several
mechanisms for degrading and
detoxifying contaminants: bacteria
use specialized enzymes to dehalogenate
phenols and convert them
to oxidized compounds called benzoquinones,
which can be metabolized
by organisms. Enzymes such as
dehalogenases or mono-oxygenases
have been used in industry for biological
detoxification. Now, researchers
from Thailand have gone further
than just detoxification, and coupled
the enzymatic process with a method
to convert the benzoquinone into luciferin
- the substance that causes
the glowing of fireflies.
The researchers, from the Vidyasirimedhi
Institute of Science and
Technology (Rayong, Thailand; www.
vistec.ac.th), led by professor Pimnone
to luciferin, the researchers add
the natural compound cysteine to the
reaction mixture. They then include a
third step in the reaction sequence
and detect the luciferin through the
glowing reaction caused by the enzyme
luciferase, which is also present
in fireflies. They also proved that
their combined method of both the
detoxification and the luciferin production
and detection is robust and
capable of quantitative conversion of
hazardous phenols to luciferin.
Their method - the simultaneous
detoxification and luciferin production
- offers additional benefits:
luciferin is a valued compound in
biomedicine. The method can also
be used to synthesize luciferin from
waste chemicals.
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chai Chaiyen, say the chemoenzymatic
cascade entails conversion of
the product from the first enzymatic
conversion step, benzoquinone, into
luciferin in a second step, but within
the same reaction vessel.
To achieve conversion of benzoquiThe
one-year demonstration, using
12 tons of Hasclay, involves two types
of systems: an off-line heat transporttype
system and a stationary-type
system. For the first type, the exhaust
heat generated at the cogeneration
plant of Hakui Factory of Hino Motors
Ltd. is to be stored in an off-line
heat-transport system, and will then
be used at both the air-conditioning
facility within the factory and also to
warm the swimming pool of Hakui
City swimming center. Because the
two locations are 2 km away from the
factory, the heated storage material
will be transported by a trailer. For the
second type of application, the heat
generated from a high-temperature
(Continues on p. 8)
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Chemical Engineering November 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering November 2019