Speakers

Regina Palkovits is Full Professor for Heterogeneous Catalysis and Chemical Technology at RWTH Aachen University. In 2020 she was elected a Fellow of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts. She leads the Sustainable Chemistry Division of the German Chemical Society and she was a founding member of AcademiaNet, a network established to address the underrepresentation of women in senior positions in science. In 2011, Palkovits' commitment to increasing diversity in science was recognised when she was selected as one of Germany's 100 Women of Tomorrow.

Research in her group focuses on the development of novel solid catalysts for the efficient utilization of fossil and renewable resources and on process design for the transformation of biomass, carbon dioxide and plastic waste into value-added chemicals and carbon dioxide neutral fuels.

Nicola Ballarini is the Head of R&D Center of Clariant in Novara. 

 Examples of catalytic solutions recently developed and commercialized by Clariant together with partners, catalysts under development and improved catalyst manufacturing processes will be shown to explain that a continuous improvement is needed and necessary to save the planet, and fight against climate change and temperature rise.

Abstract: The nature of the metal-oxide bonding interaction is one of the primary factors affecting the catalytic activity of heterogeneous catalysts based on metals stabilized on inorganic supports under the form either of small particles or of single atoms or ions. The whole range of chemical bonding interactions are displayed at the metal/oxide interface, from weak dispersion forces to covalent bonds arising from the mixing of metal and oxide orbitals. Understanding and tuning these interactions is key to tailor new catalysts, a notoriously difficult task in view of the complexity of oxide surfaces. Here we show how the synergic combination of site-selective isotopic labelling of the oxide with ¹⁷O and advanced electron magnetic resonance techniques can be used to derive site-specific structural and electronic models for open-shell single-metal species on oxide surfaces of catalytic relevance.

Mario Chiesa is full professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Torino. He obtained his PhD in 2001 from the Cardiff University (UK) with D. Murphy and after a post doc period at the University of Antwerp (with S. Van Doorslaer) he joined the group of Elio Giamello at the University of Torino. The main research interests revolve around the role of open-shell species and the use of advanced Electron Magnetic Resonance Techniques to elucidate the electronic structure of transition metal sites and its contribution to physical properties and reactivity, with particular emphasis on systems of relevance in heterogeneous, homogeneous and enzyme catalysis.

Abstract: The quest for sustainable resources to meet the demands of a rapidly rising global population while mitigating the risks of rising CO₂ emissions and associated climate change, represents a grand challenge for humanity. Biomass offers the most readily implemented and low-cost solution for sustainable transportation fuels, and the only non-petroleum route to organic molecules for the manufacture of bulk, fine and specialty chemicals, and polymers. To be considered truly sustainable, biomass must be derived from resources which do not compete with agricultural land use for food production, or compromise the environment (e.g., via deforestation). European Directives for biofuels, require a minimum reduction of 65% of GHG emission (compared to fossil fuel) to produce bio energy to be distributed on the market, a goal that will be expected to increase in the upcoming years. To achieve this reduction, it is necessary to work on the enhancement of raw materials classified as Waste & Residues such as, for example, municipal waste, lignocellulosic material, and industrial wastes. Availability of cost-competitive biomass conversion technologies plays crucial role for successful realization of biorefinery for sustainable production of fuels and organic chemicals from biomass. Catalysis will play a crucial role for biorefinery technology, and researchers will need to rise to the challenge of synthesizing chemical intermediates, advanced functional materials, and fuels from non-petroleum feedstocks. Today's biorefinery is characterized by two important sections and processes: feedstock pre-treatment systems and the upgrading section for refined products. In this context, Eni has been the first oil company in the world committed in the conversion of traditional refineries into a biorefinery. Today Eni has a processing capacity of more than 1 Mt / y of bio-feedstock in its two biorefineries, Gela and Venice. In this context, starting from 2018 Eni has installed pre-treatment systems that allow the purification of incoming raw materials classified as Waste & Residues (W&R). Currently, Gela bio-refinery processes 90% W&R while the Venice refinery uses 50% W&R as feedstock to be process. Furthermore, to minimize the environmental impact of its biofuels, from 2023, Eni will no longer process palm oil in its refineries.  In addition, innovative pre-treatment processes are continuously developed to be able to purify an increasing number of sustainable raw materials categories, thus maximizing the reduction of GHG emissions. In the biorefinery of the future, catalysis will also focus on the valorization and conversion of CO₂ to produce carbon negative products. To date, Eni is developing new catalytic technologies to produce fuels and chemicals starting from the CO₂ captured in our upstream and downstream plants.

Thomas Pasini is the Head of R&D Biofuels and Next Generation Downstream of ENI. His background is in catalysis and process technologies for the oil & gas industry. He has been working in Eni R&D Since 2013 and currently he is the head of Biofuels cluster. He is in charge of the management and coordination of R&D projects for sustainable mobility and the decarbonization of the transport sector. His everyday challenges are the development of advanced biofuels, the evaluation of raw materials for bio-refineries and the development of technologies for the circular economy and the production of new energy vectors.

Abstract - The development of efficient catalytic processes, where different individual and consequential steps are involved, is an important challenge for the current industry to obtain valuable chemical products with high economic rentability, following environmentally friendly production routes. Hybrid porous catalysts in which active sites with different nature can coexist within the same architectures allow to perform multi-step reactions, optimizing the overall catalytic process. The attractiveness of hybrid catalytic materials comes from the observation of the success of nature, which has developed catalysts, enzymes, to achieve more selective and specific chemical reactions in living organisms, where selectivity is a key factor for the survival of the species. In particular, hybrid organic-inorganic materials, formed by the combination of inorganic materials and organic compounds, are attractive for the purpose of creating high-performance or highly functionalized heterogeneous catalysts. Since they combine the advantages of inorganic solids (high mechanical, thermal, and structural stability) and organic molecules (flexibility and functionality), they are suitable for a wide range of applications, including catalysis, adsorption, separations, non-linear optics, microelectronics or sensoring. Hybrid materials can be classified according to the interactions between organic and inorganic building blocks. In class I hybrids, weak interactions between two phases, such as van der Waals, hydrogen bonding or weak electrostatic interactions are present. Nevertheless, the need of more robust and stable functional solids through the covalent interaction among organic and inorganic units allowed the development of novel synthesis approaches to obtain Class II hybrid materials, that are suitable in the field of heterogeneous catalysis. In this contribution, several examples of multi-site porous hybrid catalysts will be presented, highlighting the role of the inorganic porous supports and the use of multi-technique approaches for their physico-chemical characterization together with their application in tandem reaction processes.

Prof. Enrica Gianotti is Associate Professor in Physical-Chemistry  at the Department of Sustainable Development and Ecological Transition of the University of Piemonte Orientale (Italy). Her research activity is mainly focused on the synthesis of porous (micro and mesoporous) and hierarchical heterogeneous catalysts and to their physico-chemical characterisation by structural and spectroscopic techniques:XRD, electron microscopy (SEM and HRTEM), volumetric analysis, Diffuse Reflectance UV-Vis, photoluminescence, FT- IR, Raman and solid-state NMR. These studies are devoted to elucidate the nature, structure and strength of catalytic active sites and to highlight structure-properties relationship. In the case of spectroscopic techniques, the adsorption of probe molecules  is used to study the accessibility, the coordination and the acid or basic character of the catalytic active sites.

Giulia Licini - Professor of Organic Chemistry - Calatysis and Molecular Recognition Group ;(REACT) Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova - Via Marzolo 1, 35131 Padova E-mail: giulia.licini@unipd.it

Current research interests:  oxygen transfer catalysis; design, synthesis and application of multidentate, highly symmetric ligands in catalysis, oxidative valorization of biomass (lignin) and CO₂ fixation; stereoselective catalysis and molecular recognition

Publications >125 papers and book chapters

Academic Career

1989-1990             National Research Council Resercher, CMRO, Padova, Italy

1990-2000:            Department of Chemical Sciences, Padova University, Assistant professor

2000-2011             Department of Chemical Sciences, Padova University, Associate Professor

2011- present         Department of Chemical Sciences, Padova University Full Professor

2007 (June):           Visiting Professor at Louis Pasteur University, Laboratoire de Chimie Organométallique et de Catalyse, Institut LeBel, Strasburg, France.

2016 (November) 2017 (November/December)       Visiting Professor at Université Libre de Bruxelles, Ecole Polytechnique de Bruxelle, Engineering of Molecular Nanosystems Group