Personal details

Moritz Wolf studied chemical engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). He conducted this doctoral research at the University of Cape Town (UCT), Catalysis Institute and DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Catalysis (c*change) in South Africa and received his Ph.D. in 2018. After working as a post-doctoral researcher at UCT (2018) and the Chair of Chemical Reaction Engineering (CRT) at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) in Germany (2018-2020), he was Head of Team at the Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (HI ERN) in Erlangen, which is part of Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH. In 2021, he accepted the call to the Tenure-Track-Professorship ‘Catalyst Materials for the Energy Transition’ (W1) at KIT, Department of Chemical and Process Engineering (CIW). Since May 2022, he is Tenure-Track-Professor at the Engler-Bunte-Institut, Division Fuel Technology (EBI-ceb), while leading the group ‘Material synthesis and scale-up’ in the department ‘Catalyst materials and process development’ at the Institute of Catalysis Research and Technology (IKFT).

Other activities

• Member of the program committee for the international “Jahrestreffen Deutscher Katalytiker” (Annual Meeting of German Catalysis Society) since May 2026
• Board member of the „Young Investigator Network“ (YIN) since July 2023 (KIT)
• Elected alternate member of the Division Council since September 2026 (Division I Biology, Chemistry, and Process Engineering, KIT)
• Elected member of the Faculty Council since December 2022 (Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, KIT)
• Member of the study commission since December 2022 (Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, KIT)
• Member of the KIT „Council for Research and Promotion of Young Scientist“ (CRYS) since October 2023 
• Member of DECHEMA Gesellschaft für Chemische Technik und Biotechnologie e.V.
• Member of German Scientific Society for Sustainable Energy Sources, Mobility and Carbon Cycles e. V. (DGMK)

Awards

• 04/2025, YIN Grant, Young Investigator Network, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
• 10/2023, Carl-Zerbe Award, German Scientific Society for Sustainable Energy Sources, Mobility and Carbon Cycles e. V. (DGMK)
• 12/2020, Best Oral Presentation Prize, Operando Characterization of Catalysts at Work (OperCat), online conference
• 09/2020, EAM Starting Grant 2020, Cluster of Excellence Engineering of Advanced Materials (EAM), University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)
• 01/2020, Grantee of the Emerging Talents Initiative, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)
• 04/2019, Nominee for the Best PhD Thesis Award, European Federation of Catalysis Societies (EFCATS)
• 04/2017, EFCATS Student Travel Grant, European Federation of Catalysis Societies (EFCATS)
• 01/2017, Royal Society of Chemistry Poster Prize, Catalysis for Fuels Faraday Discussion, Cape Town, South Africa
• 11/2016, Clariant Best Student Oral Award, Catalysis Society of South Africa (CATSA) 2016 Conference, Drakensberg, South Africa
• 05/2016 & 11/2016, CATSA International Travel Grant, Catalysis Society of South Africa (CATSA)
• 04/2016, UCT Conference Travel Grant, University of Cape Town (UCT)
• 02/2015 – 01/2016, DAAD one-year scholarship for German doctoral candidates abroad, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

Teaching

• Since 2026: Technical Material Synthesis and Characterization in Heterogeneous Catalysis, Chemical and Process Engineering (M.Sc.) / Chemistry (M.Sc), Department of Chemical and Process Engineering (CIW), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
• Since 2026: Practical Synthesis of Electrochemical Materials, Chemical and Process Engineering (B.Sc.) / Bioengineering (B.Sc.), Department of Chemical and Process Engineering (CIW), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
• Since 2026: Green Ammonia, EPICUR / Chemical and Process Engineering (M.Sc.), Department of Chemical and Process Engineering (CIW), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
• Since 2025: Catalysis for Sustainable Chemicals and Energies, Chemistry (M.Sc) / Chemical and Process Engineering (M.Sc.), Department of Chemical and Process Engineering (CIW), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
• Since 2023: Chemical Hydrogen Storage, Chemical and Process Engineering (M.Sc.) / Bioengineering (M.Sc.) / Computational and Data Science (M.Sc.), Department of Chemical and Process Engineering (CIW), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
• Since 2022: Catalysts for the Energy Transition, Chemical and Process Engineering (B.Sc) / Computational and Data Science (B.Sc.), Department of Chemical and Process Engineering (CIW), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
• Since 2022: Practice for Catalysts for the Energy Transition, Chemical and Process Engineering (B.Sc), Department of Chemical and Process Engineering (CIW), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

Research interests

• Catalysis engineering in the field of heterogeneous catalysis
• Scalable catalyst preparation
• Catalyst shaping by tableting and agglomeration
• Machine learning and data-driven optimization of catalytic technologies
• Physico-chemical material characterization
• Nanoparticle synthesis and model catalysts
• Catalyst deactivation
• Induction heating of catalytic technologies
• Catalytic applications: hydrogenation of CO₂, liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs), reverse water-gas shift (rWGS), Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, emission control and others

Projects and research programs

• Materials and Technologies for the Energy Transition (MTET), Topic 3 Chemical Energy Carriers of the Helmholtz Energy research program
• CRC 1441: DFG Collaborative Research Centre Tracking the Active Site in Heterogeneous Catalysis for Emission Control
• CARE-O-SENE: development of next-generation Fischer-Tropsch catalysts for optimized production of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF)
• NFDI4Cat: digitalization in catalysis and catalysis-related sciences
• InnoPool – AutoMat: On the way towards autonomous material development
• Oxo-LOHC: Autothermal and ultra-deep hydrogen release from LOHC systems
• ENZo: KIT Graduate School Enabling Net Zero
• FA(ST)2Africa

Publications

• Google scholar
• ResearchGate
• Scopus