Periana taps precious metal for new one-step method
By Eva Emerson
A USC chemist has found what eventually could be a cheaper and more
efficient way to create acetic acid, a petrochemical used in products
ranging from aspirin to cosmetics. Acetic acid is typically made from
methanol and carbon monoxide, both of which are derived from methane,
the major component of natural gas.
The technology is expensive because it requires the chemicals to be
blasted at temperatures up to 900 degrees Celsius, and in three
separate steps. But USC chemistry professor Roy Periana has made acetic
acid directly from methane at 180 degrees Celsius.
“What our chemistry shows for the first time is that you don
