{"id":137306,"date":"2024-01-17T07:38:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-17T06:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=137306"},"modified":"2024-01-10T12:30:10","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T11:30:10","slug":"wss-research-centre-for-a-circular-economy-in-the-chemical-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wss-research-centre-for-a-circular-economy-in-the-chemical-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"WSS Research Centre for a circular economy in the chemical industry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\"Professor
Professor J\u00fcrgen Klankermayer and Professor Regina Palkovits from the Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry at RWTH Aachen University will lead the new WSS Research Centre.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The Werner Siemens Foundation (WSS) is pleased to announce the winner of its \u201cproject of the century\u201d ideas competition: a team led by Regina Palkovits and J\u00fcrgen Klankermayer from RWTH Aachen University have been awarded a ten-year WSS grant of one hundred million Swiss francs to set up a WSS Research Centre. At the new centre, the team will be developing catalysis-driven production processes that enable multidimensional circularity in the chemical industry. One specific aim is the efficient recycling of mixed plastic waste.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the occasion of its centennial anniversary, the Werner Siemens Foundation (Zug, Switzerland) launched an ideas competition for a WSS Research Centre dedicated to researching and developing technologies for the sustainable use of natural resources. The call generated an enormous echo, with a total of one hundred and twenty-three outstanding researchers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland submitting proposals for the large-scale project and ten-year WSS grant of one hundred million Swiss francs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an initial step, the WSS Scientific Advisory Board reviewed the submissions in consultation with an interdisciplinary team of experts experienced in the assessment of research projects. In spring 2023, a recommendation was sent to the Foundation Board and the Siemens Family Advisory Board, who selected six ideas and awarded each of these project teams a WSS research prize of one million Swiss francs. The prizewinning teams then further elaborated their ideas in detailed concepts for a research centre, which they presented to the WSS governing bodies in December 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Plastic waste being prepared for chemical transformation is placed in the grind container of a laboratory mill. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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In the laboratory mill, plastic can be ground into predefined particle sizes. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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The container and plastic material after grinding at low temperatures, which prevents the plastic from melting during the process. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Research excellence, innovative approaches<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a difficult decision, as we had six exceptional projects to choose from,\u201d says Dr Hubert Keiber, Chair of the WSS Foundation Board. After careful deliberation, they selected the project \u201c<\/em>catalaix: Catalysis for a circular economy<\/a>\u201d<\/em> led by Professor Regina Palkovits and Professor J\u00fcrgen Klankermayer at the Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry of RWTH Aachen University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decisive factor for choosing the Aachen team was\u2014in addition to their research excellence and multidisciplinary methodologies\u2014the very interesting potential for reusing the molecular building blocks of commodities at a high production level, explains Professor Matthias Kleiner, former president of the German Research Foundation and Leibniz Association and long-serving member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Werner Siemens Foundation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe efficient recycling of mixed plastic materials in particular represents a profound, revolutionary innovation in sustainability research. Just think about the millions of tonnes of plastic polluting the world\u2019s oceans and how we still lack a real solution to solve the problem. That\u2019s why I\u2019m very pleased the Aachen team have been given the opportunity to establish the WSS Research Centre, and I look forward to seeing their progress.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Targeted breakdown thanks to new catalysis processes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The researchers plan to set up a centre that will pave the way for a viable circular chemical industry. Their work revolves around catalysis\u2014the process that accelerates the speed of chemical reactions or makes them possible in the first place. In catalysis, substances acting as catalysts help create the starting materials for the manufacture of numerous products that have become essential in our everyday lives. Unfortunately, however, most of these products are thrown away at the end of their life cycle. The team led by Palkovits and Klankermayer want to remedy this by developing new catalysts and holistic, targeted processes for breaking down these kinds of products into reusable molecular building blocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first focus of the new WSS Research Centre will be the plastics industry. Humans produce four hundred million metric tonnes of plastic per year\u2014by 2050, it will most likely rise to sixteen gigatonnes, which is the combined weight of all humans, animals and fungi living on the planet. Today, only about nine percent of all plastics are recycled. The Aachen team plan to convert plastics back into reusable basic materials through a combination of chemical, electrochemical and microbial catalysis processes, and they\u2019ve already demonstrated that their approach works for diverse classifications of plastics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A multidimensional circular economy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

However, the researchers\u2019 idea goes beyond individual, isolated material production cycles. They also want to expand circularity in line with an open-loop principle. This means that the molecular building blocks\u2014the starting materials generated through recycling\u2014can be made to measure and used in so many different ways that they could be fed into other value chains and material cycles as needed. These processes will then create the basis for a flexible, multidimensional circular economy (see detailed project description<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are very pleased and proud that the Werner Siemens Foundation has placed its trust in our project,\u201d say project leaders Regina Palkovits and J\u00fcrgen Klankermayer. Thanks to the generous funding, they\u2019re certain the WSS Research Centre in Aachen will soon become a leading institution with international visibility and make a significant contribution to creating a sustainable chemical industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WSS Research Centre is the largest undertaking ever financed by the Werner Siemens Foundation, whose philanthropic mission is offering generous, long-term funding to innovative and promising research projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe wanted to mark our anniversary with an exceptional, far-reaching project and, in doing so, make an active contribution to the sustainable use of our planet\u2019s resources,\u201d says Dr Hubert Keiber, Chair of the WSS Foundation Board<\/strong>. \u201cWe\u2019re convinced that the\u00a0catalaix project<\/a>\u00a0is the right way to do achieve our aim, and that the WSS Research Centre in Aachen will be a great success.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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For queries concerning the WSS Research Centre<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Dr Regina Palkovits
Chair of Heterogeneous Catalysis and Technical Chemistry
Rhein-Westphalian Technical University Aachen
Tel.: +49 241 802 64 97<\/a>
E-Mail: palkovits@itmc.rwth-aachen.de<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Dr J\u00fcrgen Klankermayer
Chair of Translational Molecular Catalysis
Rhein-Westphalian Technical University Aachen
Tel.: +49 241 802 81 37<\/a>
E-Mail: jklankermayer@itmc.rwth-aachen.de<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For queries concerning the Werner Siemens Foundation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Dr Hubert Keiber
Chair of the Foundation Board
Tel.: +41 41 720 21 10<\/a>
E-Mail: hubert.keiber@wernersiemens-stiftung.ch<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For queries concerning the WSS project of the century<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. h.c. Dr.-Ing. E.h. Matthias Kleiner
Project leader, member of the WSS Scientific Advisory Board
Tel.: +49 151 152 228 36<\/a>
E-Mail: matthias.kleiner@wernersiemens-stiftung.ch<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Werner Siemens Foundation (WSS) is pleased to announce the winner of its \u201cproject of the century\u201d ideas competition: a team led by Regina Palkovits and J\u00fcrgen Klankermayer from RWTH Aachen University have been awarded a ten-year WSS grant of one hundred million Swiss francs to set up a WSS Research Centre. At the new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"In the new WSS Research Centre RWTH-scientists will be developing catalysis-driven production processes that enable multidimensional circularity in the chemical industry","footnotes":""},"categories":[17143],"tags":[14120,10416,10408,11966],"supplier":[98,23356],"class_list":["post-137306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recycling","tag-catalysis","tag-circulareconomy","tag-greenchemistry","tag-plastics","supplier-rheinisch-westfaelische-technische-hochschule-aachen-rwth","supplier-werner-siemens-stiftung-wss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137306\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137306"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=137306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}