Katrin Köhnke was awarded the Kekulé Fellowship of the "Stiftung Stipendien-<link https: www.vci.de startseite.jsp _blank external-link-new-window internal link in current>Fonds des Verbandes der Chemischen Industrie (VCI)". The young scientist studied chemistry at the Universities of Rostock, Dortmund and Bergen (Norway) and is now working on her dissertation in the group "Multiphase Catalysis" of <link internal-link internal link in current>PD Dr. Andreas Vorholt.

The VCI represents the economic interests of around 1,700 chemical and pharmaceutical companies in Germany. Through its foundation, it supports doctoral researchers with outstanding academic achievements in excellent working groups at universities and research institutions. Katrin Köhnke’s scientific and personal qualification to date convinced the board of trustees to financially support the research for her PhD dissertation as well as scientific activities in the research group. As part of her project "In-situ analytical investigations of homogeneous catalytic reactions", the PhD student investigates the deactivation of common catalyst systems in continuous processes. In cooperation with other scientists, she is setting up a suitable plant with various online analytical instruments.

"Our aim is to observe the catalysts live and under real process conditions," says Katrin. "This will allow us to see why they decompose after a certain time and lose their activity. By taking appropriate countermeasures, deactivation can be prevented or the system can be reactivated." In this way, Katrin Köhnke and her colleagues are working toward the improvement of the stability and performance of the catalysts. Since these catalysts are a decisive factor in many processes, both from an economic and ecological point of view, the project makes a significant contribution towards increasing sustainability in the chemical industry.