SRP-Onderzoekszwaartepunt: Sustainable chemical technology using multifunctional structured materials

The massive emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2 cause an increase of the earth temperature, an effect commonly known as global warming. Many human activities, such as transport using vehicles powered by fossil fuels, generation of electricity in coal or gas-based power plants, intensive animal farming, cement production etc. result in the emission of greenhouse gases.
The chemical industry, essential to provide a huge variety of consumer goods, requires a massive amount of energy and is, therefore, also responsible for a large amount of greenhouse gas emissions.
The current Strategic Research Programme wants to contribute to the development of new and improved chemical processes, that consume less energy, emit less CO2 and allow to obtain products of better quality. Research is performed to develop advanced chemical separation processes, that for example allow to extract valuable compounds from mixtures or can be used to reduce the emission of harmful compounds in the surroundings. To that purpose, advanced computer models are developed and used to guide the design of complex structures and materials that can be used to achieve a much better performance than the currently available technology. With our integrated approach, we have the ambition to respond to the many challenges in energy and sustainable use of natural resources our society is facing today.