Electrifying Chemistry: from Fundamentals to Industrial Applications.

The forthcoming workshop on electrifying chemical industry aims at pushing community of fundamental and applied science towards developing a more comprehensive approach for implementation of electrochemistry in the chemical industry.

Large-scale electrification of the industry is a crucial condition for the transition from a society based on fossil resources to a sustainable society based on renewable feedstock.

Electrochemistry will be central to the approach to convert electrons to building blocks and to store electricity in the form of “electrofuels”, as well as to use fuel to produce electricity and to use electricity to make power high value chemicals. Therefore, efficient electrochemical energy conversion and production of fuels and chemicals are important for the future of sustainable energy and the chemical industry.  In spite of the significant recent activity in this field, the implementation of large-scale electrification by the industry also still faces serious challenges. Some are related to the scale up of electrochemical technologies, but there are also fundamental challenges related to the limited efficiency of some chemical transformations and the limited scope of electrochemical synthesis.

This workshop will promote discussion on challenges and advances of electrochemical transformations from molecular level guided by the critical insight of the industrial experts. Discussion among different expertise will be driven by the main challenges this workshop wishes to address: i) to bridge the relation between “academic innovation” and “industrial requirement”, ii) to understand the parameters that affect reaction condition, iii) development of suitable flow reactor and electrolyzer and iv) to identify positive business cases since electrochemical processes for chemicals formation are less economically competent in comparison to fossil-based process.

Our aim is to have an environment for discussion, exchange of knowledge and ideas with the brainstorm sessions and formation of scientific collaboration that will push forward the field of electrochemical conversion from nanoscale to scale up technologies. At the same time this workshop will foster the general interest for electrochemistry and prepare future research paths and student training.

Deliverables: As a result of the discussion, group activities and brainstorm session, we will prepare a manuscript (Review) with the contents of the workshop. All active participants will be co-author in the Review.

Senior researcher and PhD students are invited to present their research projects in the poster session.