This year, the Chemical Industry Fund (FCI) is sponsoring 18 pioneering projects at German universities and colleges with around 375,000 euros. A project for the sustainable development of catalysts by the Faculty of Chemistry at Hochschule Niederrhein (HSNR) is also being funded with around 19,700 euros.
The aim of the project is to develop an innovative high-throughput test facility that enables the rapid and efficient evaluation of solid catalysts to reduce emissions. Solid catalysts play a crucial role in the chemical industry as they accelerate chemical reactions at the interfaces between solid surfaces and gaseous or liquid substances without consuming themselves.
These catalysts contribute to energy-efficient processes and help to reduce emissions, for example by converting harmful exhaust gases into harmless compounds - an important contribution to sustainability and resource conservation. While conventional measuring methods take several hours, the new high-throughput apparatus enables investigations to be carried out in just a few minutes.
Under the guidance of Professor Dr. Andreas Roppertz and Professor Dr. Christian Schmitz, students gain practical orientation on how sustainable catalyst development can be implemented with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) supported experimental design. They will also take an advanced course in research projects on the use of AI methods to evaluate image data to optimize catalytic processes and thus further advance sustainable catalyst development.
The planned test facility will allow the parallel analysis of up to 25 catalyst samples in a heatable chamber. In addition to their great benefits for materials development, the experiments at the apparatus will provide large data streams that will be used in the Degree programmes for digital data analysis and process control.
The Chemical Industry Fund was founded in 1950 and is the funding organization of the German Chemical Industry Association. In 2024, it will provide around 12.7 million euros for basic research, young scientists and the teaching of chemistry in schools.
