Covestro promotes innovation in electrochemistry

The circular economy, which is growing in the chemicals and plastics industries, requires alternative raw material sources beyond crude oil, and these sources urgently need further research. Industrial electrochemistry, energy-saving processes and the use of renewable energies can make an important contribution to developing new raw material sources. The necessity for innovation and the expansion of research in electrochemistry are of great importance in this respect. To this end, materials manufacturer Covestro is supporting RWTH Aachen University with a donation, thereby providing a new professorship for five years. Covestro CEO Dr. Markus Steilemann states: "Increasing use of alternative raw materials and the general transition from a linear to a circular economy is essential for achieving a forward-looking, sustainable economy and society. This goal requires a high degree of innovative capacity and greater investment in research and development at universities." To this end, RWTH Aachen University is expanding its research department "Electrochemical Reaction Engineering" with a new professorship. Here, electrochemical processes, long known from chlorine production, will be further developed using renewable energies. One of the objectives is to make climate gas CO2 even more usable as a raw material for the chemical industry. Methods for better storage of the alternative energy carrier hydrogen are also the focus here. This represents an important contribution towards creating CO2-neutral value chains in the long term. The goal is to scale electrochemical processes according to industrial standards. The university appointed Dr. Anna Mechler as Professor of Electrochemical Reaction Engineering on 1 May 2020. Mechler studied applied natural sciences and materials science in Wuppertal and Osnabrück and received her doctorate in electrochemistry in Düsseldorf at the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research and at Ruhr University Bochum. Before joining RWTH, she headed a research group on electrocatalysis at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion in Mülheim an der Ruhr. The professorship serves as a bridge between research activities in industrial electrochemistry at RWTH Aachen University and Forschungszentrum Jülich (Jülich Research Centre), thereby strengthening the Jülich Aachen Research Alliance (JARA). The integration of the professorship into the Industrial Electrochemistry Centre of Expertise (ELECTRA) will further intensify cooperation between the two institutions.