How can we develop the stable and selective catalysts that we need to make the transition to sustainable energy and production systems and a bio-based economy?

Catalysts provide cleaner and more efficient processes. Catalysis has solved the problem of acid rain and brought us fertilisers, polymers, clean petrol and many other products that contribute to our prosperity. Using catalysis, we can convert CO2 into usable materials, we can transform biomass into chemicals and fuels, and we can make new materials that increase our prosperity and spare our environment. The same goes for converting waste into usable raw materials and intermediates. About ninety per cent of all chemicals made are produced through catalysis. Developing efficient ways to extract, transport and store energy is a spearhead in the transition to a sustainable society. The switch to biomass as a raw material for the chemical industry is only possible if we develop new bio-, homogeneous or heterogeneous catalytic processes. Catalytic reactions take place at the scale of atoms, on surfaces of materials, in femtoseconds (trillionths of a second), but at the same time are part of processes carried out in large-scale reactors and process plants. Currently, industrial catalysts are made via trial and error and there is little knowledge about what makes a particular catalyst so suitable for a particular chemical process today.