NEWS
Summer Analytical Research Program Procter & Gamble has announced t h a t it will again sponsor a S u m m e r Analytical Research Program for graduating college seniors majoring in chemistry. S t u d e n t s accepted in the program will work full time for 10-12 weeks in an analytical research laboratory a t one of four corporate technical centers in Cincinnati. Applicants m u s t be U.S. citizens or p e r m a n e n t residents who are in their senior year and plan to enter graduate school as P h . D . candidates in analytical chemistry. Deadline for applications is March 1. For more information, write to Coordinator, S u m m e r Analytical Research P r o gram, Procter & Gamble, Miami Valley Laboratories, Room 1D42, Cincinnati, O H 45247.
Lyme Disease Test T h e polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which has become a powerful tool in genetic testing a n d basic research, could also aid in the diagnosis of tick-borne Lyme disease. P a t r i cia Rosa and T o m Schwan, researchers at t h e National Institute of Allergy a n d Infectious Disease's Rocky Mountains Laboratory in Hamilton, M T , have developed a P C R based test t h a t can detect as few as five of t h e spiralshaped bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, t h a t causes t h e disease. Lyme disease is now t h e most commonly reported art h r o p o d - t r a n s m i t t e d infection in the United States. (In 1988 t h e r e were more t h a n 4500 cases.) P r o m p t t r e a t m e n t with antibiotics usually eliminates the infection. Otherwise, chronic arthritic, neurologic, or cardiac symptoms could develop. Lyme disease is commonly diagnosed by the appearance of characteristic symptoms a n d from p a t i e n t history. However, u p t o 40% of infected individuals never develop the telltale skin rash, and about half do not recall being bitten by a tick. Tests for antibodies to B. burgdorferi can also identify the disease. Unfortunately, it can take u p to six m o n t h s following infection for these antibodies to reach levels high enough t o detect, and antibodies to other bacteria can cross-react, yielding false positive results. On t h e other hand, B. burgdorferi collected in different geographic areas and from a range of hosts—including ticks, rodents, a n d h u m a n s — h a s been detected in low concentrations by P C R . T h e test could become a s t a n d a r d clinical test when researchers identify which h u m a n tissue(s) harbor t h e disease, thereby avoiding false negative results. P C R targets a DNA sequence distinctive to t h e bacterium, then copies t h e sequence. Repeated cycles quickly generate enough material for analysis.
New Process for Smokestack Scrubbers Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) researchers have developed what could be a n economical a n d efficient process for scrubbing S 0 2 a n d NO* from smokestake emissions. Decreasing the o u t p u t of these pollutants could ease the problem of acid rain and lung-damaging ozone in the lower atmosphere. T h e L B L process, discovered by a research t e a m led by chemist Shih-Ger Chang, removes 90% of SO2 a n d u p to 100% of NO*. T h e best system currently used, in some power plants in J a p a n and Europe, removes u p to 90% of these pollutants. However, t h a t process is expensive and, unlike t h e L B L method, requires separate systems for SO2 and NO,. T h e Chang process modifies t h e s t a n d a r d limestone slurry scrubber by adding yellow phosphorus, seen glowing in t h e reactor in t h e accompanying photograph. Limestone removes SO2, whereas the yellow phosphorus eliminates NO*. Byproducts of t h e L B L t r e a t m e n t include commercially valuable products such as phosphoric acid, a m m o n i u m phosphate, a n d gypsum. On t h e other hand, t h e high-efficiency scrubbers in J a p a n a n d E u r o p e remove NO* by selective catalytic reduction, which reduces t h e oxides t o ammonia a t high temperatures. Costs for selective catalytic reduction run as low as around $2100 per ton of NO* eliminated. In comparison, the L B L process is estimated to cost as little as $1300 per ton each of NO* a n d S 0 2 removed. A typical 500-MW fossil fuel p l a n t discharges 300-400 tons of S 0 2 and N O x daily. T e s t s of a scaled-up version of the new scrubber process are now under way.
COURTESY OF LAWRENCE BERKELEY LABORATORY
S h i g e r u T e r a b e received B . Eng. (1963), M. Eng. (1965), a n d D. Eng. (1973) degrees from Kyoto University. From 1965 to 1978, he was employed by t h e Shionogi Research Laboratory in J a p a n . Currently T e r a b e is a n associate professor of industrial chemistry a t Kyoto University where his research interests include capillary electrophoresis, electrokinetic chromatography, and open-tubular capillary liquid chromatography. On April 1, T e r a b e will join t h e faculty a t t h e Himeji Instit u t e of Technology as a professor of chemistry.
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory chemist Shih-Ger Chang tabulates results in his laboratory during a run of a new power plant emissions treatment system invented by his research team. The glowing glass cylinder behind Chang is the heart of the system, a scrubber capable of removing both sulfur dioxide and the oxides of nitrogen from emissions. Phosphorus, an agent used in the process, causes the glowing effect.
16 A · ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 62, NO. 1, JANUARY 1, 1990
