On Sunday, 27 August, the prestigious EuropaCat 2023 scientific conference opened in the Prague Congress Centre. Hundreds of the world’s leading experts in chemical catalysis will be in the Czech capital until 1 September. Catalysis is “the process of change in rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst”. Many industrial chemical technologies depend on catalysis. UCT Prague co-organized the conference.
“Catalysis is one of the basic principles of green chemistry. It allows us to reduce the energy requirements of processes, to increase the selectivity of reactions, and thus to increase material efficiency and make separating products easier,” says Associate Professor David Kubička, UCT Prague Faculty of Environmental Technology, chair of the local organizing committee and member of the international organizing committee.
The conference was attended by more than 1,700 experts (academic and commercial backgrounds) from more than 50 countries in various catalysis specialities. Keynote speakers included Walter Leitner from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, Javier Pérez-Ramírez from ETH Zürich, and Johannes A. Lercher from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
“Catalysis cuts across all four UCT Prague faculties in various forms, including enzymatic catalysis, photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, homogeneous catalysis, and heterogeneous catalysis. These areas find their application in biotechnologies, environmental applications, hydrogen production, organic synthesis, polymerizations, oil processing into fuels and chemicals, ammonia production, and many other uses,” concludes Associate Professor Kubička.
More information about the EuropaCat 2023 conference, including its program, are on the official EuropaCat website.
About UCT Prague
The University of Chemistry and Technology Prague (UCT Prague) is a natural center of study and cutting-edge research. One of the largest educational and research institutions in Central Europe, it specializes in technical chemistry, chemical and biochemical technologies, material and chemical engineering, food chemistry, and environmental studies. Remarkably, of the more than 4,000 students at the school, 700 are enrolled in PhD programs on average. Some of the study programs on offer at UCT are unique in the Czech Republic and are key to the future of the entire country. The school collaborates with more than 100 academic institutions, namely within Europe but also in the USA, Canada, Japan, Vietnam, and elsewhere.
Contact: Michal Janovský, spokesman, telephone: +420 733 690 543, e-mail: michal.janovsky@vscht.cz