Catalysis lies at the heart of the petroleum, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, being the enabling technology in 90% of chemical manufacturing processes.

During the course of the past thirty years, catalysis has also played a crucial role in the environment protection thanks to its contribution to the development of pollutant removal technologies and to design and optimize greener industrial processes.

More recently catalysis is present at the core of innovations for the energy sector: i) biomass conversion to fuels, ii) sunlight photocatalytic conversion to electricity and, iii) fuel cells technologies for new and improved electrodes design as well as for catalytic formulations producing ultra-pure hydrogen needed for feeding cells.

Therefore, industrial catalysts have been for long and remain essential for warranting a strong economy and enhancing our quality of life. In such scenery, nanoscale catalysts design is the key to new frontier developments.

The main objectives of this course consist of:

• Gaining in-depth knowledge on the basis of heterogeneous catalysis: synthesis and characterisation. State of the art synthetic routes and characterization techniques will be introduced and discussed.

• Introducing the fundamental of catalysis by design. We will discuss new procedures to control the size, structure and morphology of catalyst nanoparticles, designing new active centres.

• Presenting how catalyst formulations are tested at the laboratory level, scaled to the industrial level, tracked and maintained along its life cycle and recycled for further use or disposal.

• Give an overview of the current challenges and opportunities available for heterogeneous catalysis in relevant industrial areas, such as the renewable energy field, fine chemicals, petrochemistry and environmental protection.

The participants will have an overview of the activities carried out by the oxidation catalysis research and development laboratory of Clariant Produkte (Deutschland) GmbH, which is one of the worldwide leading catalyst manufactures. Dr G. Mestl (Head of the department) will also introduce the steps involved in taking a catalyst from the research lab to the market.

They will also have the opportunity of visiting a refinery in which catalysts are the heart of most processes as well as several research labs where model catalysts are designed, prepared and tested.