Course details

  • Study time: 5 h

  • Target audience: students and professional with a principle knowledge of the level of a bachelor student.

Course curriculum

  • 1

    Introduction

    • Welcome video

    • Meet the teachers

    • Learning objectives

    • Good practices to use this platform

    • How to obtain your course certificate
  • 2

    1. Basics of heterogeneous catalysis

    • Catalytic Cycle and active sites

    • Productivity in Heterogenous Catalysis

    • Quiz: Do you understand the concept of productivity in heterogenous catalysis?

    • Catalytic activity

    • Adsorption as a first step in catalysis

    • Exercise: Can you calculate surface coverage?

    • Surface coverage model answer

    • Exercise: Visualize the surface coverage

    • Surface coverage visualization answer

    • Reaction rate expression

    • Exercise rate expression

    • Exercise rate expression model answer
  • 3

    2. Basics of Catalyst Characterization

    • Introduction

    • X-ray diffraction

    • Exercise: Can you calculate the particle size?

    • Calculate particle size - model answer

    • In situ XRD

    • Microscopy

    • Temperature programmed reduction/oxidation

    • Titration. Pulse chemisorption

    • Measuring rates. "10 commandments"

    • When the reaction kinetics are to be measured?
  • 4

    4. CO₂ Methanation

    • Introduction

    • CO₂ Methanation Explained

    • Storage of solar photons/electrons

    • Future energy system

    • Quiz: How much Tesla size batteries worth of energy are stored in Loenhout?

    • Methanation kinetics

    • Case Study #1: let's get started

    • Case Study #1: Metal dispersion

    • Case Study #1: TEM images

    • Case Study #1: Empirical formula

    • Case Study #1: Catalyst preparation

    • Case Study #1: Temperature programmed reduction (TPR)

    • Case Study #1: XRD diffraction pattern

    • Case Study #1: Catalyst productivity

    • Case Study #1: Solutions
  • 5

    5. Methanol Synthesis

    • Methanol synthesis

    • Process design

    • Case Study #2: let's get started

    • Case Study #2: Kinetics (part 1)

    • Case Study #2: Kinetics (part 2)

    • Case Study #2: Kinetics (part 3)

    • Case Study #2: Thermodynamics

    • Case Study #2: Reactor productivity

    • Case study #2: Solutions
  • 6

    6. Conclusion

    • Summary of the course

    • What did you learn?

    • Help us to improve this course

    • Further readings

    • Thanks to our sponsors

Instructor(s)

Professor

Mark Saeys

Since July 2014, Mark Saeys is a full professor at the Laboratory for Chemical Technology at Ghent University, Belgium. He is also the Academic Lead of the CAPTURE CO₂ pipeline. His research combines modelling-guided catalyst design with experimental kinetic validation and state-of-the-art characterization to unravel and optimize catalytic processes. Along with his research group members Lukas Hiel and Natalia Ruban at Ghent University, Prof. Saeys co-created this learning module about heterogeneous catalysis.

EOEG Technology Licensing & Catalyst Manager

Mostafa Aly

Mostafa Aly is currently part of the EOEG Technology Licensing & Catalyst team at The Dow Chemical Company. He began his career at Dow in the Hydrocarbons R&D group, working at the interface of catalyst development, process development, and plant troubleshooting for novel light alkane dehydrogenation technology. He completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering at Ghent University, where he conducted his research as a doctoral fellow at the Laboratory for Chemical Technology. His research focused on catalyst development and evaluation for propane dehydrogenation and CO₂ hydrogenation.