OPEN ACCESS to CATPRO covers all expenses connected to the standard operation of equipment and experimental units (including personal expenses for operators in 24/7 regime, commodities and defined consumables) for a selected applicant.

The CATPRO infrastructure develops and provides technologies in four major areas: 1) CATALYST SYNTHESIS AND PREPARATION aimed at scaling up laboratory procedures from a few grams to several hundred grams up to kilograms including the optimization of raw materials, technological parameters and techniques. 2) CATALYST FORMING is focused on suitable forming techniques and optimization of binders to obtain industrial-like catalysts. The application of relevant catalyst particle forming techniques (for the subsequent long-term testing of catalytic activity) together with the synthesis scale-up is a crucial for the verification and development of any catalyst to be applied industrially. The areas (1) and (2) also include basic catalyst characterization (e.g. physical properties determination, texture characterization) to provide an immediate feedback. 3) CATALYST TESTING and process development is oriented on the investigation of the scaled-up and/or shaped catalysts and determination of their activity and selectivity in both short- and long-term tests including their deactivation. 4) IDENTIFICATION OF PRODUCTS based on modern instrumental analysis: is focused on enabling a detailed description of the reaction networks by using advanced tools, such as GC-MS, GCxGC-MS and HPLC-MS to identify all important components of any complex product or raw material mixtures, e.g. bio-oils from the pyrolysis of biomass. Detailed analysis is necessary for the determination of process/catalyst selectivity, understanding the reaction mechanism and designing the subsequent separation steps.