NEWS OF THE WEEK

U.S. alleges China ships chemical agents to Iran The U.S.-China contretemps over sus­pected Chinese shipment to Iran of pre­cursor chemicals that can be used to make chemical weapons was still at a standstill at press time. But the affair raises questions about how the interna­tional community deals with such al­leged proliferation issues.

The U.S. wants to board a Chinese ship, the Yin He, to inspect its cargo for thiodi-glycol and thionyl chloride, chemicals used to make mustard gas and nerve gas. The Chinese government denies these chemicals are on board, but says it will permit a joint inspection by officials from China and a host state once the vessel docks at a Persian Gulf port.

At press time the Yin He was in the Strait of Hormuz, off Iran's southern coast, where it had been all last week. No gulf Arab country had permitted it to dock, but the U.S. was believed to be pressing Saudi Arabia to do so.

Generally, such situations are handled quietly by political means. However, Chi­na has felt hugely and unjustly put-upon—calling the U.S. "a self-appointed international policeman"—and went pub­lic with a strong denial last week.

There currently is no clear-cut interna­tional legal basis for the U.S. or any other country to deal with such a suspected proliferation issue. The two chemicals in question are dual-use chemicals. They can be produced legally even under the new Chemical Weapons Convention, which has not yet entered into force. But under the treaty their export would be controlled through end-use licensing.

The U.S., China, and Iran have signed the treaty. And China says it is abiding by all treaty obligations—which means the two chemicals would require export licenses. China says it has not issued such licenses, and thus argues the chem­icals are not in Yin He's cargo.

U.S. officials admit it is possible the Chinese government does not know Yin He's manifest included the chemicals. Ex­plains one U.S. official, "The central gov­ernment may not have control over in­dustry, or the foreign ministry may not have control over the trade ministry, or the issue is simply hard currency and the company owning the vessel went out on its own."

Yin He's cargo came under suspicion

6 AUGUST 16,1993 C&EN

after a U.S. interagency group, the Shield Work Group, noted the chemicals were on their way to Iran. Iran is believed to have a chemical weapons program, and it used such weapons in its eight-year war with Iraq.

The U.S. has little intelligence capa­bility within Iran and cannot track ulti­mate use of such chemicals. Given this gap, the U.S. automatically denies such shipments to Iran and asks other sup­plier countries to do the same, explains a State Department spokesman.

The U.S. takes a similar position with Iraq and Libya, as do many of the oth­er 24 member countries of the Australia Group. In lieu of an effective chemical arms treaty, this group takes voluntary measures to stem proliferation of both chemical and biological weapons.

A U.S. official tells C&EN he expects a regime similar to the Australia Group coordination effort is likely to be insti­tuted under the chemical weapons treaty. And this regime will become the "routine way" to resolve suspect mat­ters, rather than having to resort to so-called challenge inspections.

Another U.S. official expects the situ­ation "will be resolved within the next few days." He also thinks China will "definitely take the chemicals back and punish the offending parties," if the chemicals are found on the ship.

Lois Ember

Consortium to spur new pulp bleaching process A new research initiative is being launched that seeks to eliminate the use of chlorine and cWorine-containing chem­icals in pulp bleaching operations.

The Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) in Madison, Wis., a unit of the Depart­ment of Agriculture's Forest Service, is forming a consortium with industry and academia to develop a more cost-effective and environmentally friendly bleaching process. A prime concern is chlorinated organic compounds resulting from cur­rent chlorine-based bleaching processes that wind up in the environment.

Underlying the new technology is the use of polyoxometalates—metal-oxygen cluster compounds—as catalysts. These compounds promise to effectively remove lignin and destroy chromophores while not degrading wood fibers. They also would be recoverable and reusable.

FPL's goal over the next five years is to fully develop the chemistry, design an in­tegrated kraft pulp bleaching process for pilot testing, and complete design work for subsequent scaleup. The program is to start in January, working simultaneously on chemistry and engineering.

The lab is now recruiting industrial partners for the consortium and expects 10 to 20 companies to join. The University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Emory Uni­versity in Atlanta already have signed up. FPL has committed $600,000 annually to the program and expects industry contri­butions and grants to bring the annual budget to more than $1 million.

Emory University chemistry professor Craig L. Hill and FPL researcher Ira Weinstock will lead the effort to opti­mize the chemistry. Charles G. Hill Jr., Wisconsin chemical engineering profes­sor, and Rajai Atalla, who heads FPL's chemistry and pulping group, will direct process studies.

Craig Hill, a leading expert on polyox­ometalates, says he is excited about the project, with its potential for producing a commercial technology. He has been studying polyoxometalates, among oth­er things, for their activity against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), the virus that causes AIDS. However, the two cases have different mechanisms at a molecular level. The mechanisms with HTV are based on size and shape recognition, whereas that in pulp bleaching mimics biological oxi­dase enzymes—primarily a catalytic r e dox role in oxidizing lignin.

Explaining how polyoxometalates would work in pulp bleaching, Weinstock notes that pulp's color essentially stems from its lignin content. After pulping, about 5 to 6% by weight of the original lignin remains. Pulping also generates chromophores, leaving pulp darker than the beginning wood.

Thus, bleaching first involves a de-lignification stage. In current practice, the chlorine attacks lignin and renders it soluble for removal by caustic extrac­tion. A subsequent brightening stage uses chlorine dioxide to attack the chromophores that generally remain.

In early tests, Weinstock says, poly­oxometalates appear to be as effective at pulp bleaching as chlorine and caus­tic. The team hopes to use polyoxomet­alates for the brightening stage as well. An alternative would be to use hydro­gen peroxide for that stage.

James Krieger