Industries have always needed faster and less polluting chemical processes. Much of this transformation has been made possible by synthetic zeolites, catalysts designed by the Spanish chemist Avelino Corma 🇪🇸, European Inventor of the Year 2023 .
Many of the products we use and have around us are manufactured using catalysis, a process that speeds up chemical reactions to a matter of minutes or seconds.
Corma has developed a series of sustainable catalysts that help produce more output in less time and with less waste.
- Synthetic zeolites, minerals with crystalline structures, composed of aluminum, silicon, and oxygen.
- Their micropores are selective: they trap certain molecules so that a specific chemical reaction can take place inside their cavities.
Since 1989, together with his team, he has developed more than 60 zeolites with industrial applications around the world:
🔸Improved fuels, such as higher-octane gasoline
🔸Biodiesel production, to obtain hydrocarbons from biomass.
🔸Oil refining using more efficient processes.
🔸Reducing pollutants from factories and vehicles,
🔸Production of pharmaceuticals and fragrances.
🔸Water purification…
Today, as he has for the past 30 years, he continues his research work at the Institute of Chemical Technology, a joint center of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).
More than 900 research articles.
More than 200 patents and numerous awards.
A legacy from Spain to help make the world more sustainable.
In his own words:
Chemicals don’t cause pollution. It’s those who don’t use chemicals properly who cause pollution.
