Recipient organisationCardiff UniversitySource-published name: Cardiff University
Funding£2.2M
PeriodDec 2018 — Mar 2025
In plain English
AI plain-English summary
The UK Catalysis Hub coordinates over 40 university groups working on the chemical reactions that underpin the country’s £50 billion chemicals industry. Catalysis—the process of speeding up chemical reactions—is the invisible engine behind everything from fertilisers and plastics to pharmaceuticals and clean fuels. Without it, most industrial chemistry would be too slow or energy-intensive to be practical. The Hub’s core programme keeps this engine running by managing shared laboratories, running training workshops, and developing two technical capabilities: high-throughput sample testing for large facilities like the Diamond synchrotron, and better data management and analysis. The Hub also coordinates five research themes: designing new catalysts, linking water and energy use, making manufacturing circular and sustainable, and using biological catalysts. Because the Hub is fundamentally about enabling other research—not delivering a single product—its impact is indirect but systemic. Better catalysts mean factories that use less energy, generate less waste, and produce cheaper goods. The work is largely fundamental science, but past fundamental catalysis research has given us catalytic converters, more efficient ammonia production, and the petrochemical industry.
View original technical description
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
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