Sustainable Catalysis for Clean Growth

催化是通过催化剂的作用来加速化学反应的过程，催化剂是一种物质，它可以触发这种加速，而不会自己被耗尽。这种有效地将一种物质转化为另一种物质的能力对经济和社会非常重要；它既可以通过增加复杂性(例如，将天然气和石油馏分转化为从燃料和溶剂到材料和制药产品的产品)为简单的化学构件增加价值，也可以减少有害废物流(例如，汽车尾气中的催化转化器)。据估计，催化剂参与了我们周围80%以上的材料的制造，占英国GDP的20%以上。但这并不意味着催化是一项成熟的技术。仍然有一些根本性的科学问题没有得到解答，对新催化剂技术的需求日益增长，特别是与实现工业清洁增长有关的技术。今天使用的催化剂经过几十年的磨练，可以与特定的化石燃料原料一起使用。随着我们迈向低碳、更可持续、净零的未来，我们需要催化剂将生物质、废物和二氧化碳转化为有价值的产品。当前一代的催化剂无法实现这一点。该项目将开发这些新型催化剂，为实现净零碳雄心提供关键技术。实现这一目标需要基础性的科学进步。它还需要将这些先进的技术转化为真正的技术，以交付其影响并为业务合作伙伴带来价值。受自然的启发，打破催化研究的传统孤岛，拥抱电气化等新兴领域，我们将汇集广泛的催化专业知识、计算、材料科学和高级分析，以发现新的科学，并为实现净零做出贡献--这可能是我们所有人最紧迫的目标。

Catalysis is the process of speeding up a chemical reaction by action of a catalyst, a substance that triggers this acceleration without itself being used up. This ability to efficiently convert one substance into another is hugely important to the economy and society; it serves both to add value to simple chemical building blocks by increasing complexity (for example, converting gas and oil fractions into products ranging from fuels and solvents to materials and pharmaceutical products) and to alleviate harmful waste streams (for example, catalytic convertors in car exhausts). It is estimated that catalysts are involved in the manufacture of over 80% of the materials around us and account for over 20% of UK GDP. But this does not mean that catalysis is a mature technology. There are still fundamental unanswered scientific questions and a growing need for new catalyst technologies, especially related to achieving clean growth for industry. The catalysts used today have been honed over decades to work with specific, fossil fuel-derived feedstocks. As we move to a low carbon, more sustainable, net-zero future, we need catalysts that will convert biomass, waste and carbon dioxide into valuable products. The current generation of catalysts cannot achieve this.This project will develop these new catalysts, providing a key technology to achieve net zero carbon ambitions. Achieving this objective requires fundamental scientific advances. It also requires these advanced to be translated into real technologies to deliver their impact and bring value to the business partners. Inspired by nature, breaking down the traditional silos of catalysis research, and embracing emerging areas such as electrification, we will bring together a wide range of catalysis expertise, computation, materials science and advanced analysis to uncover new science and contribute towards achieving net zero - perhaps the most pressing objective for us all.