From the 21st to the 24th of September, the 3rd Summer School of the CRC 1615 SMART Reactors took place at TUHH, organised together with the Ostsee Lehrverbund Katalyse (OLK). The focus was on applied and industrial catalysis: how catalysts can be developed and integrated into reactor systems for the energy and resource transition. About 65 doctoral and postdoctoral researchers took part. They came from TUHH, the University of Hamburg, HAW Hamburg, Leuphana University, Kiel University, the University of Rostock and LIKAT Rostock.
After a welcome by Prof. Raimund Horn (TUHH), the first day featured lectures by Prof. Regina Palkovits (RWTH Aachen) on a catalysis toolbox for the energy transition, Dr. Esteban Mejía (LIKAT) on industrial homogeneous catalysis and Prof. Michael Schlüter (TUHH) on multiphase reactors.
The second day opened with Prof. Ulrike Krewer (KIT) on electrochemical processes, their kinetics and limitations, followed by Prof. Jakob Albert (UHH) on the catalytic valorisation of biomass in industrial reactors. In the afternoon, Prof. Eszter Baráth (LIKAT) presented transfer hydrogenation on noble metals in the liquid phase, and Prof. Marc-Georg Willinger (TUM) gave insights from operando electron microscopy into how catalytic function emerges. The day ended with a dinner lecture by Prof. Karsten Reuter (Fritz Haber Institute) on how AI can take over experiment planning and control.
The third day started with operando spectroscopy in catalytic reactors by Prof. Raimund Horn (TUHH). Dr. David Waller (YARA) then gave an industrial perspective on the development and roll-out of an N₂O abatement catalyst for the nitric acid industry. In the afternoon, Dr. Martin Schürmann (InnoSyn) showed how enzyme reactions are brought from the lab to the plant, and Dr. Andreas Vorholt (MPG) closed the lecture programme with multiphase catalysis, from batch to continuous operation.
On the last day, participants joined one of two excursions: to the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Additive Manufacturing Technologies IAPT in Hamburg-Bergedorf or to Hywax GmbH in the Port of Hamburg.
A huge thank you to all the speakers, to our hosts at Fraunhofer IAPT and Hywax, to DECHEMA and the DFG for their support, and to Raimund Horn for the great organisation!
