This special edition, produced in collaboration with the consortium ARC CBBC, explores the concept of the “Refinery of the Future”, a crucial yet challenging vision. Would it be possible to build a fully fossil-free refinery that could meet post-2050 demands by employing new feedstocks, new energy sources and new processes? You’ll find answers to this question and much more in this special.
Researchers from Utrecht, Eindhoven and Delft are teaming up with several industrial partners in a five-year multilateral ARC CBBC project to carry out optimisation at both atomic and reactor scale of methane pyrolysis.
Lees artikelDefining the future of the chemical industry is a good start, but realizing these visions will prove challenging. We asked Bas de Bruin, Guido Mul and Atsushi Urakawa, all of them PIs within ARC CBBC, to share their ideas on how we can turn that envisioned future into reality.
If you ask ARC CBBC researchers, future coatings will be able to adapt to light, temperature or chemicals and even be self-healing.
Electrosynthesis is gaining traction as an interesting method to enable sustainable production processes. For example, by creating relevant chemical building blocks from carbohydrates.
Colour is an intriguing phenomenon, as it is truly in the eye of the beholder. To create that sensation of colour, nanometer-scale particles need to be structured in just the right way.
Lees artikelTo keep pace with a rapidly changing world, the chemical industry will have to reinvent itself, says Bert Weckhuysen, scientific director of the ARC CBBC consortium.
Lees artikelWhen you’re driven by something bigger than yourself, it’s hard to put your work down, says Thomas Freese (32).
With the end of her PhD track in sight, Sofie Ferwerda explains how she navigates the worlds of academia and industry in her research, which includes a collaboration with BASF.
Combining transdisciplinary challenge-based education with design thinking creates a unique environment for students to learn skills that will help them navigate sustainability transitions.
You won’t see editor-in-chief Esther Thole charging down a black slope. But when it comes to mindblowing science, she can stomach steep descents and sharp curves.
Lees artikelMarie Brands just went for it. Driven by her passion for sustainability, she founded Elexel, an independent electrolyzer testing and scale-up service company. Though it is still in its early stages, she dreams big.
Lees artikelFor (young) children, swallowing large pills or capsules is difficult or even impossible. The Pediatric Praziquantel Consortium succeeded in developing a modified version of an existing Schistosomiasis drug that is also suitable for young children.
Plants have a lot to endure. Burning heat, extreme drought, hungry insects, destructive fungi and so on. Researchers in Göttingen have looked at the response to these stress factors in detail from algae and compared them to land plants.
Health and safety in the laboratory is an issue that most researchers give too little thought to, according to occupational hygienist Arco Engelen. During the LabSafety event on 20 May, he will not only point out the elephant in the room, but also provide tools for dealing with health and ...
When a molecule is cryptochiral, it is particularly difficult to determine its stereochemistry. Using vibrational circular dichroism, a group from Groningen has managed to crack this tough problem, as they report in Chemistry A European Journal.
A single molecular ‘switch’ seems sufficient to activate stem cells. This finding has the potential to significantly improve the efficacy and reliability of cell therapies and bone marrow transplants.
Two papers from a group in Amsterdam show insights in electrochemical pathways. ‘If you want to transfer these processes towards the industrial scale, you need to understand the pathway.’
Isabelle Kohler explores the structural issues behind PhD delays and shares practical advice for both PhD students and supervisors to support timely and sustainable PhD completion