On the development of new catalysts and catalytic processes for environmental catalysis

Professor Michael Stockenhuber will deliver a seminar "On the development of new catalysts and catalytic processes for environmental catalysis".

Biography:

Michael Stockenhuber did his PhD at the Institute of Physical Chemistry TU Vienna which he was awarded with distinction in 1994 (Dr.Techn)
In 2008 he moved from the UK to University of Newcastle, where he was a full Professor of Chemical Engineering. In 2025 he moved to University of Technology Sydney. 

Prof Stockenhuber has been hon. secretary of the British Zeolite Association and is currently president of the Australian Catalysis Society. He has established and is head of the Environmental process technology laboratory at UTS. Prof Stockenhuber is member of the EPSRC (UK) and ARC (Australia) review colleges, chair of the International Conference on Environmental Catalysis advisory board, member of the International Association of Catalysis Societies (IACS), and treasurer of the Association of Asia Pacific Catalysis Societies (APACS). He is also vice president of the International Zeolite Association and president of the International Advisory Board of the World Congress on Oxidation Catalysis as well as the Chairman of the International Advisory Board of the international Conference on Environmental Catalysis.  He has editorial board member of  number of journals and in 2024 has been awarded the Catlysis Excellence award by the Asia Pacific Association of Catalysis Societies.
 

Abstract:

Due to rapidly changing feedstocks it is important for modern catalysis to adapt current technologies to the higher heteroatom content of feedstocks and changed demand for end products. To be able to manufacture with small or negative carbon footprint utilising unconventional renewable and sustainable sources new technological approaches have to be developed. Furthermore significant demands for emission control of previously unproblematic waste streams like low concentration methane result in a demand for new technology development. Also moving away from low oxygen content hydrocarbon feedstocks is challenging and new chemical processes have to be developed. In this lecture, new developments in controlling selectivity and productivity of catalytic systems with an emphasis on new routes to fuels and chemicals as well as emission control is presented. We report a significant generally applicable breakthrough in catalyst preparation of transition metal catalysts for both increased metal dispersion as well as increased lifetime of the catalyst.
 

Future feedstocks will need different catalytic processes to deliver resources including liquid energy carriers for a modern society. For example liquid hydrocarbon fuels will be used for a significant time in aviation and other hard to abate transport sectors, such as shipping. For alternative production methods, selective oxidations and reductions will have to be used which can be challenging in terms of selectivity towards desired products and long term activity of the catalysts. Redox catalysis is expected to play an even more prominent role for future energy technology than it has played in the past. For these processes the fundamental understanding of the underlying science is crucial. We have developed heterogeneously catalysed reaction technology  that is based on acid and redox catalysis . We present new in-situ XAS and EPR data, along with DFT calculations and the original in-situ FTIR data, to unequivocally identified the nickel hydride (Ni-H) species. These species are formed either from dissociative H species or from proton transfer from bridging OH groups to Ni species. Our findings reveal a notable increase in the intensity of NH4+ vibrations in the FTIR spectrum of NH3 adsorbed on Ni/BEA with H2 pre-adsorption-evacuation compared to Ni/BEA without this treatment. This increase corresponds with the disappearance of Ni-H vibrations, suggesting that nickel hydrides function as Brønsted acids, with protons transferring from Ni-H to NH3, forming weakly coordinated NH4+ ions with Ni species. Detailed isotope studies also support the identification of nickel hydrides as Brønsted acids. Additionally, our utilization of DFT to calculate Brønsted acid sites from zeolites and Ni-H involvement in transalkylation has unveiled the potential of Ni-H to reduce kinetic barriers within these reactions. 

We also report on development and scaleup of catalytic system for treatment of methane emissions in hard to abate feedstreams.