Tailored nanoporous catalysts for net-zero chemical industry

Year 2022

Project team

Rafael Gomez-Bombarelli, Elsa Olivetti & Yuriy Roman with Mingrou Xie, Jurģis Ruža, Avelino Corma and Manuel Moliner

Better catalysts are required for net-zero world

Inventing new catalysts is hard and takes time

Computational techniques can develop new catalysts rapidly

Using artificial intelligence to identify catalysts

As the chemical industry heads toward a net-zero world, it must move away from petrochemical feedstocks and fuels, and toward biomass and other feedstocks. This team is developing an artificial intelligence-based platform to develop catalysts that would help create efficient, net-zero conversion steps for the industry. The team is focusing on zeolites, a class of more than 200 microporous aluminosilicates, with an eye toward discovering new catalysts, reducing costs and accelerating development.