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Greenifying chemistry to accelerate the transition towards a circular, waste-free society: that, in a nutshell, is what drives the Advanced Research Center Chemical Building Blocks Consortium (ARC CBBC). At ARC CBBC, Utrecht University, Groningen University, Eindhoven University of Technology and partners from the chemical industry like AkzoNobel, Shell and BASF have joined forces. NWO is co-founder and partner of this national organization.
Greenifying chemistry
Currently, the chemical production industry is walking a tightrope: providing for today’s need for innovation, acceleration and comfort without compromising the demands of tomorrow is a daunting task. Consumer concerns, political ultimatums, industrial demands, and scientific curiosity need to converge. As a society, we must make a concerted effort in reconsidering the materials and production routing currently in use and in reinventing the way in which chemistry is applied on an industrial scale.
Industrial production can be made sustainable. ARC CBBC brings together scientific excellence, and industrial research and development to learn how to do this. Together they are engaged in rethinking the design of the chemical building blocks that make up the products of our everyday lives.
Through ARC CBBC, we are able to connect excellence in science with the chemical industry in order to attain long-term and semi-long-term solutions for the difficult problems facing our society.
ARC CBBC investigates the routing of our manufacturing processes and the use of chemical products and processes, and examines this with a critical eye. Our public-private organisation, founded in 2016, unites universities, researchers, businesses and ministries and facilitates their close collaboration in multidisciplinary chemical, physical, materials and process technology research. All for the chemical building blocks of tomorrow.
Research programme
ARC CBBC tackles the challenges of ‘greenifying chemistry’ in multilateral and bilateral programmes based on three themes: the materials transition, the feedstock transition and the energy transition. All research topics are examined by interdisciplinary teams composed of postdoctoral researchers and PhD students with the relevant expertise, and in collaboration with industry partners.
The importance of the feedstock and materials transitions
The energy transition has become a major point of interest in our modern-day society. ARC CBBC considers the feedstock and materials transitions to be equally important. To ensure the success of all three transitions, we must look at them integrally. Our materials must be adapted to make them more durable, to expand their functionality, and to facilitate their recyclability at the end of their useful life. At the same time, we need to explore the possibility of using other feedstocks to produce our materials, and examine alternatives for the use of fossil fuels in our manufacturing processes, such as biomass or even CO2.
We should consider the contents of our waste collection trucks a source of feedstock.
Maartje Otten, PhD candidate at Utrecht University, researches the recycling of plastics. She collaborates with BASF, Shell and Nobian and explores the possibility of breaking down plastics to their original building blocks in order to use these to manufacture new products, with new features to serve new purposes. This results in a unique link between fundamental research and its application, thus bringing the feedstock transition one step closer.
Unique infrastructure for breakthrough new chemistry
Our hubs play a key role in our ambitions. ARC CBBC, intrinsically a virtual institute, revolves around three university hubs. The University of Groningen (with a focus on hom*ogeneous catalysis), Eindhoven University of Technology (with a focus on process technology) and Utrecht University (with a focus on heterogeneous catalysis) have all provided the consortium with lab space, ultra-modern equipment, financial support and human resources. Finally, the consortium is supported by ARC CBBC’s team of technicians and ARC CBBC-specific tenure-track assistant professors who all contribute to our mission.
It is evident that we need sustainable alternatives in tomorrow’s chemistry and materials.
George Hermens was a PhD candidate at ARC CBBC at the University of Groningen, and during his research, he developed a fully biobased paint. In collaboration with AkzoNobel, he reinvented the production route in order to facilitate the usage of not only biobased feedstock, but also biobased additives in the coating. This proves that fully biobased coatings are possible, and it is also a step towards upscaling towards application in our daily lives.
But ARC CBBC's research does not stop there. What if researchers could discover how to make coatings more durable, or how to give them self-repairing properties? What if we could use the harmful CO2 we emit every day, as feedstock for the production of chemicals? Can our researchers study, construct and improve catalysts? Can we use light as a thermometer? Can we develop new research tools?
ARC CBBC combines academic and industrial expertise to transform our vision of a sustainable chemical industry into a tangible reality. To find out more about the ARC CBBC, visit the main website: https://arc-cbbc.nl/ .
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ARC CBBC Website
Mailing address
ARC CBBC
Vening Meinesz building C
Princetonlaan 6
3584 CB Utrecht
The Netherlands
