Catalyzing the road to sustainable e-fuels

On the evening of Thursday 23 March 2023 RSC Belgium welcomed Professor Damien Debecker from UCLouvain to the British School of Brussels in Tervuren to talk about ’CO2 and H2: catalyzing the road to sustainable e-fuels?’ Professor Damien Debecker is a professor within the Faculty of bio-science engineering at UCLouvain and is currently holder of a Francqui Research Professor chair.

As we all know the mitigation of net CO2 emissions is currently an absolute priority challenge for society for which various strategies must be implemented in parallel. One useful technology, which falls under the umbrella of the Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) concept relies on the catalytic hydrogenation of CO2 to methane, methanol, or higher hydrocarbons.

When methane is targeted, this process is called methanation or the Sabatier reaction. Prof Debecker took us through recent developments in the design of highly active methanation catalysts and then placed these developments in a more general context, questioning the sourcing of both CO2 and H2 and highlighting the fundamental role of renewable electricity in so-called sustainable processes.

The talk covered a number of issues relating to sustainable chemical processes, future energy production and the sense (or non sense) of certain proposed solutions. A lively Q&A session follwoed teh talk and continued during moe informal networking afterwards.

The session was recorded and you can access it direct via the RSC YouTube channel here or via the embedded video below.

BSB at Top of the Bench Final

Our 2022 Belgium Top of the Bench champs – Team Sodium from the British School of Brussels (BSB) – competed in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s 2023 Top of the Bench national final on 25 March at the University of East London (UEL). The BSB team were the only non-UK team in the 31 competitors. The competition tests the chemistry knowledge of 14–16 year-old students through written and practical exercises.

Students had to complete a 40-minute chemistry knowledge exam in pairs, followed by a 90 minute hour practical team exercise in UEL’s labs. The theme of the final was sustainability with a practical challenge on sustainable energy that included a calorimetry task, density determination and finally an analysis of some possible “future fuels”. 

The teams also had a talk from Tony Raynham, the course leader for the University of East London Chemistry department, about the course (a new course only just set-up), his life history and journey about how he got to where he is now and then a talk on apprenticeships from an RSC speaker. 

Tony Raynham said that UEL was delighted to host the talented young chemists in the Bioscience department.

Unfortunately, BSB did not win; Winchester College (winning team pictured above) took top place. The winning team received a trophy and Amazon gift vouchers, and will be sent £500 for their school to spend on science equipment. The first runners-up, four students from Colchester County High School for Girls, received Amazon vouchers. Hannah Addiscott from The Grange School was awarded the Jacqui Clee Award for the most outstanding individual contribution.

BSB chemistry teacher and RSC Belgium committee member Jonathan Norris escorted the BSB party and commented: “The students really enjoyed themselves, despite a long day.” The BSB team made the trip to and from London in a day.

Despite not winning all the students came away with a free t-shirt and a periodic table and the accompanying teachers got a thermochromic mug, a RSC lanyard, and a fetching RSC tote bag.

Next year’s final will be in Edinburgh and RSC Belgium will be planning to send a team as usual.