Engineering catalyst interoperability in next-generation tandem reactions for intensified chemical processes

ongoing

"Process intensification and catalysis are considered key stepping-stones towards a future sustainable chemical industry. Potentially, a major intensification can be achieved by the integration of two catalysts in a single reactor, to steer sequential chemical reactions in a tandem fashion. Yet, tandem catalytic processes face a notorious barrier towards industrial realization: the challenge of harmonizing the rates at which the integrated catalysts individually process and collectively exchange molecules, to avoid e.g. derivation of intermediate products through undesired reaction pathways, something elegantly achieved in nature's enzymatic tandem reactions via complex substrate channelling phenomena. TANDEng is set to break through this frontier limitation via an effort which encompasses aspects of chemistry, material science, physics and reaction engineering. The challenge is to tackle the current constraining dichotomy that close proximity of tandem catalysts, which is mandatory for an efficient transport of intermediate products between their active sites, prohibits individual adjustment of other key performance parameters such as temperature. To break through this paradigm, the project seeks to realize a disengaged engineering of the chemical and thermal ""intimacies"" in tandem solid catalysts. Fundamental studies will guide the development of innovative catalysts featuring i) bespoke porosities for fast molecular transport, able to mimic a nanoscale proximity even for active sites residing in different macroscopic particles, and ii) implanted ancillary functions designed to achieve a catalyst-specific heating and thermometry in compact reactors with unconventional electromagnetic power supply. The novel concept will be validated to unlock currently unfeasible tandem processes to address the timely challenge of valorising delocalized feedstocks, alternative to petroleum (unconventional gas and biomass), where process intensification is an enabling prerequi"