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Department of Chemical Engineering Annual Report 2015
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EU, Norwegian and international industry and other
sources, and spans from fundamental studies of ideal
surfaces to studies of real catalysts and process
development work in small pilot plants.
The Catalysis Group was a research partner in a Centre
for Research-based Innovation (Innovative Natural Gas
Processes and Products – inGAP) in the period 2007-
2015.
Since 2015, the Catalysis Group is heading a new Centre
for Research-based Innovation: industrial Catalysis
Science and Innovation (iCSI) – for a competitive and
sustainable process industry. The main objective of iCSI
is to boost industrial innovation and competitiveness as
well as to provide efficient, low-emission process
technology. The centre director is Professor Hilde J.
Venvik.
AREAS OF RESEARCH
A description of the Catalysis Group as well as further
details of all the projects, are given in our Annual Report
(KinCat).
INDUSTRIAL PROCESS CHEMISTRY
In the iCSI centre, the group is working with industrial
partners to improve catalysts and associated technology
applied to the following industrial processes:
Production of nitric acid (HNO3) from ammonia (NH3)
Synthesis of polyvinylchloride (PVC) produced by
polymerization of the monomer vinyl chloride (VCM)
Improve the performance of existing formalin
production process technology which is based on the
catalytic oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde
The fact that 85-90% of all chemical production is
catalysis based, illustrates the importance of catalysis to
the economic growth and the life-standard developed
over the previous century. By optimizing the catalytic
process, energy consumption and cost in industrial
processes will be reduced. Catalysis is also key to
enhancing selectivity, an important principle of green
chemistry, since it reduces the formation of by-products
and waste as well as the energy consumption.
DESIGN AND PREPARATION OF NEW CATALYSTS
AND SUPPORTS
The catalytically active material is the key to any catalytic
process, and the preparation of these, highly specialized
functional materials is an important industry.
Understanding the processes involved in the
preparation, and developing improved methods are
therefore central research areas. We work with new
methods for the preparation of supports and catalysts,
as well as the preparation and use of structured,
mesoporous supports. Other areas include core-shell
particles and size and shape-control of metal particles.
CARBON NANOMATERIALS
Carbon nanofibres (CNF) have several interesting
properties such as high resistance to strong acids and
bases, high electric conductivity (similar to graphite),
relatively high surface area and high mechanical
strength. These unique properties lead to a large number
of applications, such as catalyst supports, selective
sorption agents, energy storage, composite materials,
nano-electric and nano-mechanical devices, as well as
field emission devices. The programme includes
synthesis of carbon nanofibres and nanotubes of
different morphology and the use of CNF/CNT in
applications such as heterogeneous catalysis, fuel cells
and conversion and storage of energy. This is done in
collaboration with other groups at NTNU, SINTEF and
Norwegian industry. Replacing noble metals using doped
carbon nanomaterials in fuel cells, dehydrogenation
reactions and in water treatment have been explored in
a European project coordinated by the Catalysis group at
NTNU.
Carbon nanomaterials in energy storage