Catalysis still retains an air of mystery – almost an aura of alchemy. Why?
Because successful industrial catalytic reactors are true "works of art." They arise from the interplay of many disciplines: chemistry, engineering, manufacturing technology, materials science, mechanical engineering, physics, thermodynamics, analytics, and experimental techniques. Gaining an overview of so many fields is challenging even for experienced experts – and almost impossible for newcomers.
But how do you introduce newcomers to the profession or career changers with a professional interest to such a complex topic? And how can knowledge be passed on when many projects are shrouded in secrecy?
Dr. Nickl, founder of C&CS GmbH, describes his company's path as follows:
Firstly, C&CS possesses a wealth of experience from approximately 100 applications, 500 customers, and thousands of successfully completed projects. This knowledge is strategically applied in daily operations and continuously expanded.
Secondly, the “knowledge database applied heterogeneous catalysis” – in short – was created. WDBahK – established. It serves to systematically record knowledge about catalysts, reactor operation and complete plants and to make it usable for internal purposes.
Thirdly, there is the training material. “100 Words on Catalysis”It summarizes all the technical terms relevant to everyday life on just a few pages – topics such as space velocity, cross-sensitivity, wall effect, ASPEN, Swagelok, kinetics or activation energy.
New employees familiarize themselves with these "100 words" and thus benefit from already proven knowledge. This motivates them, accelerates the learning curve, and facilitates knowledge transfer – a real relief for experienced colleagues.
“My bold claim is: Anyone who masters these 100 words can conduct 80 percent of all customer conversations,” says Dr. Nickl. “The remaining 20 percent are so complex that experts have to come together anyway. That’s how we deal with complexity – and our contribution to the future knowledge society.”
And what does the future hold? "The question of what kind of tsunamis artificial intelligence will unleash in catalysis makes the topic even more exciting," says Dr. Nickl. "We are preparing for it."
