Chinese Academy of Sciences (PDF) - low res version

22
CAS/In Focus
Figure 2. 160,000 tons/year coal-based synfuel industrialization demonstration project.
TPY capacity, which was put into operation in 2010 and reached 75% of
its design capacity. China is planning a large scale EG industrial production
unit with capacity of nearly 4,000,000 TPY.
The world’s first superconducting power substation with a voltage level
of 10.5 kV, developed by the Institute of Electrical Engineering, was put into
operation on the power grid of Gansu Province. It is the only distributionlevel
hi-tech superconducting substation in the world.
The world’s largest capacity 650Ah sodium sulfur battery cell with a low
fading rate and a life expectancy of over 10 years was developed by the
Shanghai Institute of Ceramics in cooperation with industry, together with
a series of new materials, interface designs, particular cell structure, and
fabrication processes.
Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials
CAS plays a leading role in the development of metallic materials, ceramic
materials, composite materials, and organic polymer materials. By licensing
neodymium-based polybutadiene rubber (NdBR) technology from the
Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry (CIAC), PetroChina has built an
NdBR production line with a capacity of 35,000 TPY, producing a product
regarded as one of the best in the world. The industrial technology package
for neodymium-based polyisoprene rubber (NdIR) production, which is the
most advanced both in product quality and economy in China, was developed
by CIAC, CAS, and licensed to Shandong Shenchi Chem. Co. Ltd.
An NdIR production line with a capacity of 30,000 TPY will start production
in August 2012, while construction of a new production line with a capacity
of 100,000 TPY is scheduled for the near future. Based on technology
licensed by CIAC and CAS, a 10,000 TPY production line for CO 2 -based
plastics has been built in China, and a 5,000 TPY production line for polylactic
acid has been running smoothly.
The demand for carbon emission reduction prompted industry leaders
to develop more fuel efficient aircraft engines using new light-weight
materials such as titanium aluminide to make turbine blades. In cooperation
with Rolls-Royce, the Institute of Metal Research (IMR) is developing
a near net shape technology for manufacturing such blades which
Research
promises to cut the production cost significantly. The technology is undergoing
a series of tests and, once completed, can be used in updated
versions of engines that power aircrafts such as the Boeing 787 and
Airbus 350.
A novel strengthening approach based on new principles has been developed
for metallic materials by researchers from IMR, which involves
strengthening materials by engineering twin boundaries at the nanometer
scale. By introducing a high density of nano-scale coherent twins in pure
copper, high strength together with high ductility and high electrical conductivity
can be achieved simultaneously (4).
DICP researchers have investigated the F+H 2 reaction and developed
an accurate physical picture of reaction resonances in this important
system in a series of combined empirical and theoretical experiments.
In addition, they have studied the state-to-state non-adiabatic
dynamics of the F/F*+D 2 reaction and observed the breakdown of the
Born-Oppenheimer approximation in this reaction. This research has
had a significant impact by deepening our understanding of chemical
reaction resonances and chemical non-adiabaticity at the quantum
state-to-state level.
Outlook
In the future, further effort will be made in improving key technologies in
space science, new-generation information technology research, and clean
and efficient coal technology. Significant accomplishments are expected to
be achieved in advanced medical equipment, robot technology, and electric
vehicles, in a bid to make contributions to China’s economic development
and social progress.
RefeRences
1. J. Li, Y. Tung, M. Kwauk, Circulating Fluidized Bed Technology II
(Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1988) pp. 89–103.
2. W. Ge et al., Chem. Eng. Sci. 66, 4426 (2011).
3. As of Nov. 2011, Mole-8.5 is listed as the 21st in Top500 (www.top500.
org/lists/2011/11).
4. L. Lu, Y. Shen, X. Chen, L. Qian, K. Lu, Science 304, 422 (2004). CREDIT: COURTESY OF THE INSTITUTE OF COAL CHEMISTRY, CAS