Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2007, 46, 8291
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Preface: CAMURE-6 & ISMR-5 Symposium in Pune, India This special issue of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research presents a selection of papers presented at the joint sixth International Symposium on Catalysis in Multiphase Reactors (CAMURE-6) and fifth International Symposium on Multifunctional Reactors (ISMR-5), held at the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) in Pune, India, January 14-17, 2007. This international symposium was organized to provide a forum for the dissemination of information on new advances in catalysis and multiphase/multifunctional reactors. The previous CAMURE-5 & ISMR-4 symposium was held in Portoroz-Portorose, Slovenia, June 15-18, 2005, which also was the first joint symposium of the previous meetings held on catalysis in multiphase reactors (Lyon, France, 1994; Toulouse, France, 1998; Naples, Italy, 2000; Lausanne, Switzerland, 2002) and multifunctional reactors (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1999; Nuremberg, Germany, 2001; Bath, U.K., 2003). The theme of this symposium series covers an important aspect of innovations of new process technologies for chemicals, energy, and environmental applications, which very often are based on catalysis and multiphase/multifunctional reactors. It provides a platform for researchers from these fields to discuss the latest developments in these areas, which will undoubtedly play a crucial role in the new environmentally benign, sustainable, and economically moreadvanced processes in chemical and related industries. In the last few decades, catalysis has made impact in the development of atom efficient and “green” routes for a variety of products, while designing new multiphase reactor concepts are required to facilitate energy efficient and safer operations. The contributions at the CAMURE-6 & ISMR-5 symposium were covered by 138 presentations, which included plenary and invited lectures, as well as oral and poster presentations from 18 countries in 4 continents. These were organized in 12 sessions, covering catalysis, multiphase reactors and multifunctional reactors. Contributions in the area of catalysis were largest in number, followed by those in multiphase reactors. Trickle-bed reactors, microreactors, and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling attracted significant attention during this symposium. A relatively lower number of contributions on multifunctional reactors was received. The deliberations in the symposium and contributions of this special issue emphasized a need for collaboration between chemists and chemical engineers. We take this opportunity to thank all the authors and special invitees for their outstanding plenary/invited lectures, oral and poster presentations, and invaluable critical comments. We also thank the scientific committee and several reviewers who helped us to screen the manuscripts. We would also like to acknowledge the generous support from NCL (Pune, India) in hosting this symposium, as well as the various sponsors (CSIR; Reliance Industries, Ltd.; Parr Instrument Company; SI Group; GE Global Research John F. Welch Technology Center; Transmetal, Ltd.; Chemito; and Varian) and several colleagues from NCL, Pune, in regard to organizing this symposium. We would also like to thank the editorial staff of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research for their efforts and help in preparing this special issue of CAMURE-6 & ISMR-5 symposium.
Raghunath V. Chaudhari Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, UniVersity of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66047
Vivek V. Ranade Catalysis, Reactors and Separations Unit, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 411008, India IE078009Y
10.1021/ie078009y CCC: $37.00 © 2007 American Chemical Society Published on Web 11/28/2007
