NEWS OF THE WEEK However, Woodward notes, gluconic acid could be further converted to yield more hydrogen. "Eventually it is a matter of economics/7 he says. In the ORNL experiments, the cellulase was purchased commercially. For commercial operation, it would be produced on-site, substantially cutting its price. A small-scale operation could recover some costs by selling the byproduct gluconic acid, which is used as a sequestering and chelation agent. But a major commercial operation to produce hydrogen from glucose would probably produce more gluconic acid than the market requires, providing another incentive to convert gluconic acid to more hydrogen. U.S. cellulosic waste currently totals about 16 billion lb per year. If all were converted to hydrogen, it would yield about 37.5 billion standard cubic feet of the gas, with an available heat content of about 12.2 trillion Btu—the energy equivalent of about 100 million gal of gasoline. The team is now trying to optimize the reaction for pH, temperature, and enzyme ratio. Woodward also is considering immobilizing GDH and hydrogenase in a bioprocess for longterm, continuous hydrogen production. Joseph Haggin
Drinking water act has bipartisan support By voice vote, the House has passed H.R. 3604, a bill to reauthorize programs under the Safe Drinking Water Act, capping a strong bipartisan effort that Republicans and Democrats say significantly improves existing law. The Senate passed its version of the bill unanimously last year. A conference committee will meet soon to work out differences between the two versions. With the election season under way, this is probably Congress7 best chance to pass significant environmental legislation this year. With the bipartisan support shown so far, final passage seems likely. One controversial provision of the bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency to devise a screening program to detect chemicals that may be endocrine disrupters. EPA would obligate manufacturers and importers to conduct tests under the screening program and to submit the results to the 6
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agency. Further evaluations and risk characterizations might be conducted if a chemical shows positive results. The Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA) is concerned about inclusion of the screening program in the bill. CMA says such comprehensive screening seems to circumvent existing laws and regulations under the Toxic Substances Control Act, which regulates testing of chemicals. CMA believes the new program could be overly broad, leading to a requirement that almost all chemicals would have to be tested for endocrine disruption. But, overall, the bill enjoys support from most affected parties. EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner says, 'This legislation meets the Administration's goal of protecting public health by setting tough safety standards, preventing pollution in the rivers and lakes that are sources of drinking water, and applying common sense to the regulatory process/' And Rep. Thomas J. Bliley Jr. (R-Va.), chairman of the House Commerce Committee—which pulled together the coalition needed to gain wide bipartisan support—says the bill represents "the most significant environmental legislation in years." Passing the drinking water act also proves this Republican Congress can enact good environmental laws, he adds. A major element of the bill is providing $7.6 billion through 2003 in federal contributions to a revolving state grant fund to help local systems meet EPA water standards. The bill also supplies $10 million per year for drinking water research and $15 million per year for technical assistance to small drinking water systems. It removes the onerous 1986 requirement that EPA promulgate standards on 25 additional water contaminants every three years. Instead, every five years EPA must publish a list of contaminants for which standards may be set. EPA will be allowed to use cost-benefit analysis in setting those standards. The House bill also contains a community right-to-know requirement under which drinking water utilities would send customers a yearly report on the levels of federally regulated contaminants found in their water systems, even if a system is in compliance with regulations. EPA has two years to work out details of this "consumer confidence report" with water supply systems. David Hanson
Catalysis institute wins U.K. 'Foresight' award The British government has announced the 24 winners of the first round of its Foresight Challenge competition. The winners—including a new national institute of applied catalysis and other chemistry-related projects—will receive a total of about $140 million over the next four years. The competition is part of the government's Technology Foresight program, which aims to harness science, engineering, and technology to increase the competitiveness of U.K. companies (C&EN, Feb. 5, page 33). Of the $140 million, about $45 million will come from government "challenge" funding and $95 million from the private sector. The awards are intended to stimulate partnerships between science and business to act on market and technology priorities identified by 16 industrial-sector panels. Last November, the government's Office of Science & Technology received more than 500 outline bids for challenge funding from consortia of academic, government, and business interests. The bids were assessed by the Challenge Awards Group, chaired by Sir Robert M. May, the government's chief scientific adviser. The group invited 63 consortia to present full bids. "The 24 proposals recommended for challenge funding embrace science, engineering, and technology of the highest quality," said Minister for Science & Technology Ian Taylor in announcing the awards. The winning
Chemistry-linked projects win Foresight Challenge Several of the 24 successful Foresight Challenge proposals are chemistry related: • Composites from plants • Center for combinatorial biochemistry • National institute of applied catalysis • Clean power from coal • Automated drug testing • Center for protein technology • Center for process analytics and control technology • Computer modeling of polymers
