When:
Tuesday, November 4, 2025
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM CT
Where: Norris University Center, 2-287 Armadillo Room, 1999 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208 map it
Contact:
Tommy Baker
(847) 467-6043
thomas.baker@northwestern.edu
Group: Trienens Institute
Category: Lectures & Meetings
Professor Bert M. Weckhuysen Seminar
Join the Paula M. Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy for two seminars conducted by distinguised Professor Bert Weckhuysen from Utrecht University.
What: "Operando Spectriscopy of Catalyst Materials: The Past, the Present and Future"
Who: Professor Bert Weckhuysen, Utrecht University
When: Tuesday, November 4, 2025 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM CT
Where: 2-287 Armadillo Room, Norris University Center, 1999 Campus Dr, Evanston, IL 60208
Abstract:
Scientists have been hunting for the “active site” in catalysis, thereby elucidating the reaction and deactivation mechanisms of important processes for the production of fuels, chemicals and materials, including plastics and coatings. This ambition is certainly not a trivial one as the concept of “active site”, originally proposed by Hugh Taylor, remains to date elusive. Catalysts have been found to be highly dynamic and evolve as a function of the reaction environment (e.g., composition, temperature and pressure) as well as reaction time. If we wish to capture these dynamics, analytical methods have to be developed and applied to spatiotemporally image catalyst materials at work. This notion lead about 25 years ago to the foundation of the field of “operando spectroscopy”. Crucial is the aspect that spectroscopic measurements must be performed under realistic reaction environments to ensure that the obtained physicochemical data captures relevant information on the catalytic process and hence may interrogate the behavior of the active site. Although simple it its principle, striving towards a true operando experiment is far from trivial, as the conditions for performing spectroscopy measurements are not well aligned with the conditions for performing catalytic measurements. This contradictio in terminis becomes even more apparent when realizing that catalysts should be best studied (a) in their chemical and structural complexity (e.g., shaped catalyst bodies, containing binders and additives) as used in industrial reactors and (b) under industrial-like conditions, including the presence of e.g. poisons, and transient reaction conditions. This lecture starts with some historic notions leading to the foundation of the field of operando spectroscopy. The second part of the talk focuses on important developments of the operando methodology. Three aspects will be highlighted, namely the need for: (a) multiscale characterization approaches, going from the reactor down to the active site; (b) multimodal approaches, integrating complementary methods and (c) catalyst particles as operando temperature and catalytic performance sensors. The third part discusses showcases, which illustrates the complexity of defining what an “active site” may look like in reality. It will be shown how catalysts for CO, CO2 and CH3OH conversion spatiotemporally evolve, how the active sites are in-situ created within the catalyst particles placed in a reactor bed and how they further evolve during these processes. These examples lead to different notions on what an active site may be, and they highlight the importance of synthesis and pretreatment (i.e., the deliberate transformation of a “precatalyst” into its active form) in designing catalysts with the intrinsic potential to generate the highest “density of selective and stable active sites”.
What: "Catalysis Achievements and Needs for Realizing the Refinery of the Future"
Who: Professor Bert Weckhuysen, Utrecht University
When: Wednesday, November 5, 2025 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM CT
Where: 2-287 Armadillo Room, Norris University Center, 1999 Campus Dr, Evanston, IL 60208
Abstract:
As we wish to gradually transform our society in a more sustainable and circular one, it is important to revisit our main chemical production complexes, thereby aiming to build the so- called refinery of the future. This requires a.o. new needs from a chemistry and chemical engineering point of view, including the development of new or improved catalyst materials as well as novel reactor concepts, thereby increasingly making use of green electrons and hydrogen. For example, for the catalytic activation of small molecules, such as CO2, one of the main questions to answer involves the coupling of carbon fragments, originating from CO2, either produced at point sources, or harvested from direct air capture units. The goal is to manufacture increasingly complex carbon-containing molecules from CO2 – or the related molecule CO - instead of making them from crude oil fractions and natural gas. This requires a profound knowledge of the physicochemical processes taking place at the catalytic surface of both thermo- and electrocatalytic activation processes of CO2, was well as of the subsequent chemical conversion processes in which carbon monoxide (Fischer-Tropsch synthesis), methane (via C-H activation to make e.g. olefins and aromatics) and methanol (methanol-to- hydrocarbons process) are used. Next to pasting smaller molecules, such as CO2 and CO, together, we also have to learn more how to cut larger molecules into useful chemicals and fuels. That requires that we know how to selectively convert biomass (e.g., lignin, chitin, and cellulose) into base chemicals, as well as how we have to efficiently process plastic waste to strive for a closed carbon cycle. This is the topic of this lecture, in which I will discuss different old and new catalyst materials for cutting renewable resources, including plastic and biomass waste into useful chemicals, as well as different catalyst materials for pasting small molecules, including CO and CO2, into larger hydrocarbons.
__________
Speaker Biography:
Bert Weckhuysen, a Distinguished University Professor at Utrecht University (The Netherlands), received his Master and PhD degrees from Leuven University (Belgium) in 1991 and 1995. He has worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Lehigh University (USA) and Texas A&M University (USA). He has (co-) authored more than 750 scientific journal publications and has received many scientific awards, including the Royal Dutch Chemical Society Gold Medal, Netherlands Catalysis and Chemistry Award, Paul H. Emmett Award in Fundamental Catalysis, International Catalysis Award, Bourke Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry, Spinoza Award from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, Kozo Tanabe Prize for Acid-Base Catalysis, Chemistry Europe Award and Michel Boudart Award for the Advancement of Catalysis. He is a Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion, and an elected member of a.o., the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (KNAW), the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and Arts (KVAB), and the European Academy of Sciences. The Weckhuysen group aims to build a powerful “camera” to record what actually happens in a working catalytic solid under relevant reaction conditions. The aim of this work is to bring the necessary science and technology to a level that enables imaging catalytic processes at macro, meso and micro scales, from the reactor down to interactions between atoms and molecules. This approach allows to unravel the activation and deactivation mechanisms of various catalytic processes, of relevance to make the fuels and chemicals from renewable resources, including CO2, biomass and plastic waste.
When:
Wednesday, November 5, 2025
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM CT
Where: Norris University Center, 2-287 Armadillo Room, 1999 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208 map it
Contact:
Tommy Baker
(847) 467-6043
thomas.baker@northwestern.edu
Group: Trienens Institute
Category: Lectures & Meetings
Professor Bert M. Weckhuysen Seminar
Join the Paula M. Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy for two seminars conducted by distinguised Professor Bert Weckhuysen from Utrecht University.
What: "Operando Spectriscopy of Catalyst Materials: The Past, the Present and Future"
Who: Professor Bert Weckhuysen, Utrecht University
When: Tuesday, November 4, 2025 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM CT
Where: 2-287 Armadillo Room, Norris University Center, 1999 Campus Dr, Evanston, IL 60208
Abstract:
Scientists have been hunting for the “active site” in catalysis, thereby elucidating the reaction and deactivation mechanisms of important processes for the production of fuels, chemicals and materials, including plastics and coatings. This ambition is certainly not a trivial one as the concept of “active site”, originally proposed by Hugh Taylor, remains to date elusive. Catalysts have been found to be highly dynamic and evolve as a function of the reaction environment (e.g., composition, temperature and pressure) as well as reaction time. If we wish to capture these dynamics, analytical methods have to be developed and applied to spatiotemporally image catalyst materials at work. This notion lead about 25 years ago to the foundation of the field of “operando spectroscopy”. Crucial is the aspect that spectroscopic measurements must be performed under realistic reaction environments to ensure that the obtained physicochemical data captures relevant information on the catalytic process and hence may interrogate the behavior of the active site. Although simple it its principle, striving towards a true operando experiment is far from trivial, as the conditions for performing spectroscopy measurements are not well aligned with the conditions for performing catalytic measurements. This contradictio in terminis becomes even more apparent when realizing that catalysts should be best studied (a) in their chemical and structural complexity (e.g., shaped catalyst bodies, containing binders and additives) as used in industrial reactors and (b) under industrial-like conditions, including the presence of e.g. poisons, and transient reaction conditions. This lecture starts with some historic notions leading to the foundation of the field of operando spectroscopy. The second part of the talk focuses on important developments of the operando methodology. Three aspects will be highlighted, namely the need for: (a) multiscale characterization approaches, going from the reactor down to the active site; (b) multimodal approaches, integrating complementary methods and (c) catalyst particles as operando temperature and catalytic performance sensors. The third part discusses showcases, which illustrates the complexity of defining what an “active site” may look like in reality. It will be shown how catalysts for CO, CO2 and CH3OH conversion spatiotemporally evolve, how the active sites are in-situ created within the catalyst particles placed in a reactor bed and how they further evolve during these processes. These examples lead to different notions on what an active site may be, and they highlight the importance of synthesis and pretreatment (i.e., the deliberate transformation of a “precatalyst” into its active form) in designing catalysts with the intrinsic potential to generate the highest “density of selective and stable active sites”.
What: "Catalysis Achievements and Needs for Realizing the Refinery of the Future"
Who: Professor Bert Weckhuysen, Utrecht University
When: Wednesday, November 5, 2025 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM CT
Where: 2-287 Armadillo Room, Norris University Center, 1999 Campus Dr, Evanston, IL 60208
Abstract:
As we wish to gradually transform our society in a more sustainable and circular one, it is important to revisit our main chemical production complexes, thereby aiming to build the so- called refinery of the future. This requires a.o. new needs from a chemistry and chemical engineering point of view, including the development of new or improved catalyst materials as well as novel reactor concepts, thereby increasingly making use of green electrons and hydrogen. For example, for the catalytic activation of small molecules, such as CO2, one of the main questions to answer involves the coupling of carbon fragments, originating from CO2, either produced at point sources, or harvested from direct air capture units. The goal is to manufacture increasingly complex carbon-containing molecules from CO2 – or the related molecule CO - instead of making them from crude oil fractions and natural gas. This requires a profound knowledge of the physicochemical processes taking place at the catalytic surface of both thermo- and electrocatalytic activation processes of CO2, was well as of the subsequent chemical conversion processes in which carbon monoxide (Fischer-Tropsch synthesis), methane (via C-H activation to make e.g. olefins and aromatics) and methanol (methanol-to- hydrocarbons process) are used. Next to pasting smaller molecules, such as CO2 and CO, together, we also have to learn more how to cut larger molecules into useful chemicals and fuels. That requires that we know how to selectively convert biomass (e.g., lignin, chitin, and cellulose) into base chemicals, as well as how we have to efficiently process plastic waste to strive for a closed carbon cycle. This is the topic of this lecture, in which I will discuss different old and new catalyst materials for cutting renewable resources, including plastic and biomass waste into useful chemicals, as well as different catalyst materials for pasting small molecules, including CO and CO2, into larger hydrocarbons.
__________
Speaker Biography:
Bert Weckhuysen, a Distinguished University Professor at Utrecht University (The Netherlands), received his Master and PhD degrees from Leuven University (Belgium) in 1991 and 1995. He has worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Lehigh University (USA) and Texas A&M University (USA). He has (co-) authored more than 750 scientific journal publications and has received many scientific awards, including the Royal Dutch Chemical Society Gold Medal, Netherlands Catalysis and Chemistry Award, Paul H. Emmett Award in Fundamental Catalysis, International Catalysis Award, Bourke Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry, Spinoza Award from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, Kozo Tanabe Prize for Acid-Base Catalysis, Chemistry Europe Award and Michel Boudart Award for the Advancement of Catalysis. He is a Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion, and an elected member of a.o., the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (KNAW), the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and Arts (KVAB), and the European Academy of Sciences. The Weckhuysen group aims to build a powerful “camera” to record what actually happens in a working catalytic solid under relevant reaction conditions. The aim of this work is to bring the necessary science and technology to a level that enables imaging catalytic processes at macro, meso and micro scales, from the reactor down to interactions between atoms and molecules. This approach allows to unravel the activation and deactivation mechanisms of various catalytic processes, of relevance to make the fuels and chemicals from renewable resources, including CO2, biomass and plastic waste.