Project description
Reviving catalysts for a greener chemical industry
To achieve transition goals, it is crucial that both the energy and chemical sectors rapidly adopt more sustainable practices and solutions. The chemical industry relies on catalysts and catalysis for nearly 90 % of its processes. Unfortunately, most catalyst materials rely on scarce and expensive metals and lose their activity over time, making regeneration cost-inefficient. The ERC-funded ReGenCat project will develop a revolutionary electrothermocatalytic reactor, allowing for the in situ regeneration of catalysts at low-energy costs. The reactor will utilise atom-efficient catalysts, exploiting their dynamic restructuring in response to changes in applied electrochemical potentials. This will allow for regeneration in situ and under mild conditions, low pressures, and temperatures.
Objective
To address today’s environmental challenges, the production of energy and chemicals must rapidly change. The chemical industry currently relies on catalysts, materials that speed up reactions, in 90% of its processes. Catalysis will thus play a pivotal role in transitioning from our fossil fuel-based society to a more sustainable and renewable society. However, most catalyst materials rely on expensive and scarce metals. Even more strikingly, these metal-based catalysts can present very low atom efficiency (below 20%). In other words, most metal atoms are not used in the reaction. With 34 materials and metals identified as critical by the European Union, metal scarcity issues are thus key hurdles to achieving a clean energy transition. Finally, most catalysts lose their activity over time, and their regeneration is costly. Catalytic reactors and catalysts must be reimagined to face these challenges.
The goal of ReGenCAT is to design a groundbreaking electro-thermocatalytic reactor capable of in situ regeneration of catalysts at low energy costs. The reactor will rely on atom-efficient catalysts called dilute metal alloys. By exploiting the dynamic restructuring of dilute metal alloys in response to changes in applied electrochemical potentials, the reactor will enable in situ regeneration of catalysts under mild conditions at low temperatures and pressure. It will yield synergy and increase the lifetime of catalysts in important reactions involving biomass-derived chemicals. In the long term, I envision that the unique integration of thermocatalysis and electrocatalysis developed in ReGenCAT will also significantly advance current and emerging sustainable technologies relying on renewable electricity - such as fuel cells and electrolyzers - by improving their overall efficiency.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences chemical sciences catalysis electrocatalysis
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
412 96 Goteborg
Sweden
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.