Sustainable Chemistry Concepts for Closing Circular Economy Loops

Prof. Gadi Rothenberg, Head of the Heterogeneous Catalysis and Sustainable Chemistry Group, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The coming decade will be an exciting time for green chemistry and green engineering. All over the world, people realise that sustainable development is more than just a buzzword, and that society can move towards the long-term goals of CO2-neutral processes and a circular economy. While many people talk about this, chemists and chemical engineers can actually do something about it. In the lecture, I will present four examples that show the impact and possibilities of using sustainable chemistry concepts for closing circular economy loops: the design and application of simple and cheap materials for fuel-cell electrodes, a techno-economic approach for recycling and reusing the ultimate waste, a possible route for reacting CO2 with a minimal thermodynamic penalty, and the invention and pilot application of a new catalyst for cleaning cyanide from industrial waste streams.