Catalysis plays a key role in two technological developments aimed at addressing environmental-related matters. One, a process that converts carbon dioxide to methanol, is seen as a means of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide dumped into the atmosphere without an economic penalty. The other, unsteady-state operation, is a chemical processing innovation that is finding its way into the cleaning of plant exhaust gases. Particulars on the developments were presented in separate forums at the American Chemical Society's national meeting in San Diego. The methanol process, developed by Lurgi Oel-Gas-Chemie, Frankfurt, was outlined for the Catalysis and Surface Science Secretariat. Lurgi is ready to commercialized a variation of its methanol process, which converts carbon dioxide to ethanol in two stages. Underlying the process is development of a catalyst that is suitable for operation in two temperature regimes. The paper describes the development of the process. A catalytic reverse processing system is being used to decontaminate gas streams containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These VOCs may be unacceptable in the environment or undesirable in subsequent processing units. Other applications include nitrogen oxides reduction, ammonia and methanol synthesis, and oxidation of SO[sub 2] to SO[sub 3] in the manufacture of sulfuric acid.more » Among the materials that have been removed as VOCs are C[sub 4] to C[sub 8] alcohols, phenol, formaldehyde, cyanic acid, and a variety of organic solvents. The advantages over conventional methods are discussed.« less