Making your chemical processes sustainable – with customized electrocatalysis solutions

The chemical industry faces the challenge of making production processes more sustainable and future-proof. Legal requirements (e.g., Green Deal), increasing customer pressure, and climate neutrality goals require new approaches: Alternative syntheses must be developed, fossil raw materials replaced, and waste streams used as resources. At the same time, there is often a lack of internal expertise and the necessary infrastructure for testing and analysis. In addition, there is often uncertainty about technical feasibility and suitable reaction routes. Among the promising enabling technologies, electrochemistry stands out as a versatile tool for making chemical production more sustainable, flexible, and compatible with renewable energy.

Electrocatalysis and electroorganic chemistry offer decisive advantages for the transformation of production processes: they enable the direct use of renewable electricity as a reaction driver, open up new synthesis routes beyond classical thermochemistry, and ensure precise reaction control. This allows by-products and waste products to be specifically avoided and processes to be designed in a much more selective manner. Companies benefit from more efficient production routes, lower energy and raw material costs, and the possibility of incorporating biogenic residues or waste products as resources.

Fraunhofer UMSICHT supports you with comprehensive research and development services along the entire electrocatalysis value chain:

• Feasibility analyses and planning of synthesis strategies based on electrochemical processes – including comparison with conventional processes and techno-economic evaluation
• Development and testing of electrocatalysts with comprehensive physicochemical characterization
• Reaction optimization to increase selectivity, yield, and stability – supported by AI-based methods
• Support for scaling and piloting – including integration of novel electrolysis processes into industrial process chains.
• Physicochemical characterization of reactor components and reaction mixtures

With Fraunhofer UMSICHT, you gain an experienced partner who will accompany you from the initial idea to successful implementation. The collaboration is geared toward meeting your individual requirements efficiently and in a solution-oriented manner. We offer you comprehensive scientific and technical support:

• Feasibility studies for specific electrochemical reactions – including comprehensive literature and potential analyses
• Preparation and provision of electrocatalysts and electrodes for testing under realistic conditions
• Reaction optimization for reductive and oxidative processes with the aim of achieving higher selectivity, yield, and stability
• Characterization of materials and reaction mixtures using state-of-the-art physicochemical and electrochemical methods (e.g., NMR, µCT)

Example procedure

1. Consultation and agreement on the objectives to be achieved
2. Literature research
3. Electrode production/characterization and electrochemical reaction optimization
4. Presentation of results/final report

Crossing the Valley of Death: From Fundamental to Applied Research in Electrolysis | JACS Au

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Developing electrochemical hydrogenation towards industrial application | ChemSocRev

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Opening the pathway towards a scalable electrochemical semi-hydrogenation of alkynols via earth-abundant metal chalcogenides | ChemSci

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An Electrochemical Screening Reactor Kit for Rapid Optimization of Electrosynthesis Applications | ChemSusChem

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Substrate diffusion electrodes allow for the electrochemical hydrogenation of concentrated alkynol substrate feeds | iScience

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Electroplated Electrodes for Continuous and Mass-Efficient Electrochemical Hydrogenation | ChemEurJ

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