The chemical industry recognises the need to address the principles of sustainability and there is an urgent need to design processes as new paradigms in modern manufacturing residues or, if unavoidable, to recycle them. However, sustainability also requires the design of chemical processes that minimise the use of energy and direct the reaction towards the desired products, i.e. high selectivity at the required conversion with minimum energy consumption. Catalysis must be at the core of any new chemical process and the development of active, stable, and selective catalysts will be key for chemical sustainability. Most industrial chemical processes involve several chemical steps and each step often uses a different catalyst. Product separation and purification between each step also requires further equipment and energy consumption and hence it is highly beneficial to simplify the overall process. In this project, we aim to minimise the number of individual steps in chemical processes by tandem reactions with multifunctional heterogeneous catalytic systems that can perform the consecutive chemical reactions in one reaction, and we will achieve this using microchannel reactors. Moreover, we aim to achieve this for the preparation of key platform chemicals e.g. acetic acid is a major chemical intermediate that currently require several chemical process steps. The main objective of this project is to design and develop multifunctional catalysts combined with a microchannel structured reactor to convert methane into value-added oxygenate products including methanol and acetic acid via a tandem oxidative carbonylation process. The use of tandem heterogeneous catalysis represents an exceptionally novel approach to both catalyst and reaction design. We will explore the use of microchannel reactors for methane oxidation/carbonylation. Catalyst synthesis will be coupled with this reactivity testing and catalyst design will be driven by the reactor data. Catalysts will be characterised using state-of-the-art techniques. The engineering and science will operate in an iterative manner with each new step informing the overall programme. What will success look like? Success will be the demonstration of the potential of a bespoke combination of a microchannel reactor coupled with multifunctional catalysts, generating enhanced performance that could lead to a paradigm shift in the synthesis and application of catalytic tandem reactions.

Catalysis is a core area of science that lies at the heart of the chemicals industry - an immensely successful and important part of the overall UK economy, where in recent years the UK output has totalled over £50B annually and is ranked 7th in the world. This position is being maintained in the face of immense competition worldwide. For the UK to sustain its leading position it is essential that innovation in research is maintained, to achieve which the UK Catalysis Hub was established in 2013; and has succeeded over the last four years in bringing together over 40 university groups for innovative and collaborative research programmes in this key area of contemporary science. The success of the Hub can be attributed to its inclusive and open ethos which has resulted in many groups joining its network since its foundation in 2013; to its strong emphasis on collaboration; and to its physical hub on the Harwell campus in close proximity to the Diamond synchrotron, ISIS neutron source and Central Laser Facility, whose successful exploitation for catalytic science has been a major feature of the recent science of the Hub. The next phase of the Catalysis Hub will build on this success and while retaining the key features and structure of the current hub will extend its programmes both nationally and internationally. The core activities to which the present proposal relates include our coordinating activities, comprising our influential and well attended conference, workshop and training programmes, our growing outreach and dissemination work as well as the core management functions. The core catalysis laboratory facilities within the research complex will also be maintained and developed and two key generic scientific and technical developments will be undertaken concerning first sample environment and high throughput capabilities especially relating to facilities experimentation; and secondly to data management and analysis. The core programme will coordinate the scientific themes of the Hub, which in the initial stages of the next phase will comprise: - Optimising, predicting and designing new catalysts - Water - energy nexus - Catalysis for the Circular Economy and Sustainable Manufacturing - Biocatalysis and biotransformations The Hub structure is intrinsically multidisciplinary including extensive input from engineering as well as science disciplines and with strong interaction and cross-fertilisation between the different themes. The thematic structure will allow the Hub to cover the major areas of current catalytic science

Oil is the most important source of energy worldwide, accounting for 35% of primary energy consumption and the majority of chemical feedstocks. The quest for sustainable resources to meet demands of a constantly rising global population is one of the main challenges for mankind this century. To be truly viable such alternative feedstocks must be sustainable, that is "have the ability to meet 21st century energy needs without compromising those of future generations." Development of efficient routes to large-scale chemical intermediates and commodity chemicals from renewable feedstocks is essential to have a major impact on the economic and environmental sustainability of the chemical industry. While fine chemical and pharmaceutical processes have a diverse chemistry and a need to find green alternatives, the large scale production of petrochemical derived intermediates is surely a priority issue if improved overall sustainability in chemicals manufacture is to be achieved. For example, nylon accounts for 8.9% of all manmade fibre production globally and is currently sourced exclusively from petrochemicals. It is one of the largest scale chemical processes employed by the chemicals sector. Achieving a sustainable chemicals industry in the near future requires 'drop in' chemicals for direct replacement of crude oil feedstocks. The production of next-generation advanced materials from the sustainably-sourced intermediates is a second key challenge to be tackled if our reliance on petrochemicals is to end The project will develop new heterogeneously catalysed processes to convert cellulose derivatives to high value platform and commodity chemicals. We specifically target sustainable production of intermediates for manufacture of polyamides and acrylates, thereby displacing petroleum feedstocks. Achieving the aims of the project requires novel multifunctional catalyst technology which optimises the acid-base properties, hydrogen transfer and deoxygenation capability. Using insights into catalyst design gleaned from our previous work, a directed high-throughput (HT) catalyst synthesis and discovery programme will seek multifunctional catalyst formulations for key biomass transformations. Target formulations will be scaled up and dispersed onto porous architectures for study in lab-scale industrial-style reactors. We will also seek to exploit multi-phase processes to improve selectivity and yield. This will be combined with multi-scale systems analysis to help prioritise promising pathways, work closely with industry to benchmark novel processes against established ones, develop performance measures (e.g. life cycle analysis (LCA)) to set targets for catalytic processes and explore optimal integration strategies with existing industrial value chains. Trade-offs between optimising single product selectivity versus allowing multiple reaction schemes and using effective separation technology in a "multiproduct" process will be explored. The potential utilization of by-products as fuels, sources of hydrogen, or as chemical feeds, will be evaluated by utilizing data from parallel programmes.

The report 'Higher Degree of Concern' by the Royal Society of Chemistry highlighted the importance of effective PhD training in providing the essential skills base for UK chemistry. This is particularly true for the many industries that are reliant on catalytic skills, where entry-point recruitment is already at PhD level. However, the new-starters are usually specialists in narrow aspects of catalysis, while industry is increasingly seeking qualified postgraduates equipped with more comprehensive knowledge and understanding across the cutting edge of the whole field. The 2011 EPSRC landscape documents acknowledged the existing strengths of UK catalysis (including the concentration of academic expertise in the south-west), but recognised the critical need for growth in this strategic and high-impact field of technology. Over the following 18 months, the universities of Bath, Bristol and Cardiff worked closely together to put in place the foundations of an alliance in catalysis, based on the distinctive but complementary areas of expertise within the three institutions. This bid will build on this alliance by creating a single training centre with unified learning through teaching and research. Building on the best practice of existing and established postgraduate training, and benefitting from the close geographical proximity of the three universities, each intake of PhD students will form part of a single cohort. The first year of the PhD will involve taught material (building on and expanding Cardiff's established MSc in catalysis), a student-led catalyst design project, and research placements in research laboratories across all aspects of catalysis science and engineering (and across all three institutions). This broad foundation will ensure students have a thorough grounding in catalysis in the widest sense, fulfilling the industry need for recruits who can be nimble and move across traditional discipline boundaries to meet business needs. It will also mean the students are well-informed and fully engaged in the design of a longer PhD project for the next three years. This project will be the same as the more traditional PhD in terms of its scholarship and rigour, but still include wider training aspects. A further benefit of the broader initial training is that students will be able to complete PhD projects which transcend the traditional homogeneous, heterogeneous, engineering boundaries, and include emerging areas such as photo-, electro- and bio-catalysis. This will lead to transformative research and will be encouraged by project co-supervision that cuts across the institutions and disciplines. We have identified a core of 28 supervisors across the three universities, all with established track records of excellence which, when combined, encompasses every facet of catalysis research. Furthermore, full engagement with industry has been agreed at every stage; in management, training, project design, placements and sponsorship. This will ensure technology transfer to industry when appropriate, as well as early-stage networking for students with their potential employers.