SK-BKATA7.5 ECTSQ1EnglishBachelor
Catalysis
FaculteitFaculty of Science
NiveauBachelor
Studiejaar2026-2027
Beschrijving
Course goals
At the end of the course, you will be able to:
1. Formulate scientific questions concerning catalysis in molecular terms;
2. Select the proper type of catalysis, namely biocatalysis, homogeneous catalysis or heterogeneous catalysis, to catalyze a particular chemical transformation;
3. Describe the mechanistic, thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of a chemical transformation process;
4. Describe current methods for acquiring insight into chemical transformations;
5. Collect and summarize essential information into a poster presentation and use it to convince other people of the knowledge on catalysis you have acquired; and
6. Gain an understanding of energy, environmental and innovation problems by making a poster about a catalysis topic.
1. Formulate scientific questions concerning catalysis in molecular terms;
2. Select the proper type of catalysis, namely biocatalysis, homogeneous catalysis or heterogeneous catalysis, to catalyze a particular chemical transformation;
3. Describe the mechanistic, thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of a chemical transformation process;
4. Describe current methods for acquiring insight into chemical transformations;
5. Collect and summarize essential information into a poster presentation and use it to convince other people of the knowledge on catalysis you have acquired; and
6. Gain an understanding of energy, environmental and innovation problems by making a poster about a catalysis topic.
Content
The course Catalysis (SK-BKATA) is part of the “Chemistry in Context” part of the curriculum, in which courses in the second and third year of the Chemistry Bachelor introduce the students to scientifically and socially relevant subjects. Catalysis (SK-BKATA) offers an introduction to courses and research themes within the UU Master’s program Nanomaterials Science and Sustainable and Circular Chemistry.
Catalysis is everywhere!
Catalysis is everywhere!
Catalysts can be found in our body (enzymes are essential to life), in a gasoline-driven car (for exhaust gas purification), in washing powder (to help break down food residues on dirty clothes) and in chemical, food and process industries (no fuel, plastic, coating, beer, cheese, bread or wine without the proper catalysts). Catalysis is also one of the key technologies required to drive the current energy, feedstock and circularity transitions demanded by the urgent need to transition to a more sustainable and circular society. New catalysts are, for example, needed to make chemical building blocks, materials and fuels from more sustainable sources of carbon, such as biomass, municipal waste or CO 2, or to achieve end-of-life circularity, e.g., by recycling plastics.
The aim of this course is to expand your fundamental understanding of molecular transformation processes involving catalysis. The focus is on various types of catalysis, in particular molecular catalysis (i.e., biocatalysis, enzymatic catalysis and homogeneous catalysis) and heterogeneous catalysis (i.e., catalysis by solids), and also the thermodynamics and kinetics of catalytic processes. Together with a group of fellow students you will design a new catalytic route for the production of a key chemical building block, taking sustainability considerations explicitly into account. This new process will be detailed in a poster presentation. Furthermore, the processes which lead to catalyst innovation will be explored. Evidently, the concepts of sustainability and circularity play a central role in this course
The aim of this course is to expand your fundamental understanding of molecular transformation processes involving catalysis. The focus is on various types of catalysis, in particular molecular catalysis (i.e., biocatalysis, enzymatic catalysis and homogeneous catalysis) and heterogeneous catalysis (i.e., catalysis by solids), and also the thermodynamics and kinetics of catalytic processes. Together with a group of fellow students you will design a new catalytic route for the production of a key chemical building block, taking sustainability considerations explicitly into account. This new process will be detailed in a poster presentation. Furthermore, the processes which lead to catalyst innovation will be explored. Evidently, the concepts of sustainability and circularity play a central role in this course
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