The Institute of Catalysis Research and Technology contributes to the research programs of the Helmholtz Association through program-oriented funding. These programs are aligned with the German federal government’s research policy guidelines and are carried out in collaboration with scientists from other Helmholtz institutions.

Within Helmholtz research, the IKFT is primarily active in Helmholtz-Energy, specifically in the “Materials and Technologies for the Energy Transition” (MTET) program and the “Energy System Design” (ESD) program.

In Topic 3, “Chemical Energy Carriers,” of the MTET program, the focus of scientific work is on processes for converting alternative raw materials into fuels and basic chemicals using catalytic processes, as well as on the development and scale-up of the new catalytic systems.

In Topic 5 of the program, the institute focuses on technologies for producing chemical energy carriers and intermediates of the chemical industry from biomass and polymers via thermochemical, thermocatalytic, and electrocatalytic processes within a future circular economy. A key infrastructure for this is the Carbon Cycle Lab, which is part of KIT’s Energy Lab.

For collaboration within the ESD program, process models are being developed; these are validated using representative data from the institute’s pilot plants, combined to cover entire value chains, and evaluated.