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333 product in a desired grade. Plasticizer
alcohol viscosity, for instance, is a key application
engineering parameter that’s essentially
influenced through
catalyst selectivity.
What we’ve just talked about are
mid-range goals. We’re also thinking
more long-term. One such project involves
revisiting the old dogma that only
rhodium and cobalt can efficiently catalyze
the hydroformylation. Our exploratory
work at LIKAT shows that palladium
and iridium present an heretofore
untapped potential for carbonylation
reactions. Together with LIKAT and the
work group under Prof. Arno Behr at
the Technical University of Dortmund,
an additional partner in the scope of the
Proforming Project funded by the BMBF
(Federal Ministry of Education and Research),
we intend to find out what that
potential is and how to realize it.
Beller: The idea is to provide the various
Evonik business units with fundamental
innovations in homogenous and
heterogeneous catalysis. This will in
turn spark concrete bilateral projects,
which Evonik could then scale up industrially.
who’ll be doing what? Is evonik’s role
limited to providing the funding?
Beller: That’s definitely not the case
here. Funding is important and it can
accelerate research projects, but it’s no
guarantee for success. Success comes
from working together and from intensive
exchange with academic research.
Buchholz: The sheer diversity of
demands placed on the catalysts to be
developed makes abundantly clear that
only a broadly based, methodical approach
has the greater chances of success. The
compelling advantage is that Evonik
brings decades of accumulated experience
and expertise in production to the
table, while LIKAT contributes the latest
findings from basic research. These two
complementary perspectives are not
only im portant in driving current proj-
elements39 Issue 2|2012
ects towards a successful outcome,
but also create a steady source of new
research topics.
what benefits can LIKAt derive from the
partnership?
Beller: The Leibniz Institute for Catalysis
is one of the world’s largest public
research facilities in the area of applied
catalysis. Complementing the research
work at German universities and Max
Planck Institutes, LIKAT’s declared goal
is to help translate basic research findings
into industrial applications. Yet this
can only be achieved in cooperation
with partners from industry. Or put differently:
We definitely share in the success
of technical solutions arrived at
jointly in the lab.
And what’s in it for evonik?
Buchholz: The longstanding, broadly
based cooperation with LIKAT has
played a major role in systematically
securing and expanding our technological
edge in the area of hydroformylation
but also in telomerization. Besides the
concrete research findings, we also
value the dialogue with Mr. Beller, an
internationally recognized and leading
catalysis researcher, and with Prof.
Armin Börner as very inspiring—and that
greatly stimulates our internal development
work.
Here, personal exchange is key—even
with all the advanced communication
tools and methods available today, it is
still indispensable to the creative process.
That’s why we not only have project
leaders talking with each other, but
also the people in the team—the group
heads and doctoral candidates at LIKAT,
and the researchers at Evonik. This pro ximity
gives PhD candidates insights into
industrial research, and it helps them
prepare for their career. Several doc -
to ral candidates appreciated this aspect
to the extent that they signed on with
Evonik. The ability to interact with
future colleagues in a workplace set -
t ing is an invaluable advantage, too.
Besides, it is also the best way to spread
the knowledge gained as a team effort
throughout the company.
what are the cons, if any, of such a
research partnership?
Beller: Compared to, say, a project
funded by the German research community,
academic freedom does have to
operate within a more defined framework
in this type of cooperation. As a
researcher, one might view this as a constraint,
but the way I see it, the benefits
far outweigh any perceived disadvantages.
Buchholz: The costs and the benefits—
and the latter shouldn’t be construed as
short-term profit optimization—have
to be constantly weighed against each
other. Of course, the need to be as open
as possible to enable the partner to get
fully involved sometimes conflicts with
the need to respect the necessary obligations
that come with intellectual property,
and that is why it is so important
to build trust. Trust, as our experience
with LIKAT has shown, thrives especially
well in a long-term partnership.
You have been working together now for
over ten years. How has the partnership
evolved over time?
Beller: In the beginning the cooperation
between Evonik and my colleague Armin
Börner in Rostock was focused on developing
better hydroformylation catalysts
for plasticizer alcohols. We essentially
synthesized and catalytically tested new
organometallic complexes and organic
ligands for catalyst modification. This
fell short of the goal to develop industrially
viable and feasible systems, however.
That’s why we expanded the scope
to include mechanistic experiments,
detailed catalyst studies, and structural
activity tests. In 2009 our findings were
implemented into practice in Evonik’s
integrated C4 technology platform in
Marl. Something we naturally found very
gratifying.