A NORTH Yorkshire professor who invented a greener way of producing one of the world’s most common plastics has won a globally prestigious science award.

Professor Graham Hutchings, who lives in Osmotherley near Northallerton was recently invited to collect the Advanced Environmental Solutions Prize from the Italian Palace in the presence of Italian President Sergio Mattarella for his significant scientific breakthrough.

Described as the Nobel Prize of energy research, the award, from Italian company ENI is one of the top prizes for researchers in the field of energy and environmental science and has a prestigious list of recipients in its ten-year history.

Professor Hutchings won the award for developing a substitute for the harmful and toxic mercury catalyst that is used in PVC’s production process.

Among his many successes, Professor Hutchings’ most valued discovery is that the precious metal gold has the remarkable ability to catalyse reactions much more efficiently than others that are used in industry. In particular, gold can be used to produce vinyl chloride – the main ingredient of one of the world’s most commonly used plastic, PVC.

As a result of Professor Hutchings’ pioneering work, a gold catalyst is now being produced at a purpose built factory in China by global chemicals company Johnson Matthey in order to catalyse the production of vinyl chloride.

More significantly, the gold catalyst has replaced an extremely harmful mercury catalyst that was previously used in this particular production process. The hugely toxic mercury becomes volatile during this process and can therefore make its way into the surrounding environment. The World Health Organisation has declared it a significant threat to human health.

The Minamata Convention on Mercury, a binding international treaty signed by nearly 140 countries in 2013, contains a specific clause on vinyl chloride, stating that after 2017, new plants producing vinyl chloride cannot use mercury catalysts. After 2022, all plants producing vinyl chloride must go mercury-free.

China is the world’s biggest producer of PVC, using coal as a starting material and a mercury catalyst to eventually arrive at vinyl chloride.

Current estimates suggest that 20 million tonnes of vinyl chloride could be manufactured each year using the gold catalyst.

On receiving the award, Professor Hutchings said: “It’s an absolute honour to receive the award and be in the company of an esteemed list of previous winners. My work is underpinned by application and finding innovative scientific solutions to real-world problems. Removing mercury from its largest use by substituting it with gold will, I hope, have immense environmental benefits on our future.”

Prof Hutchings, who is a director of Cardiff University’s Cardiff Catalysis Institute, previously worked at ICI before joining Cardiff University in 1997 as Professor of Physical Chemistry and Head of the School of Chemistry. He now holds the role of Regius Professor of Physical Chemistry and Director of the world-renowned Cardiff Catalysis Institute.