The chemical industry is a major contributor to CO2 emissions as it accounts for about 30% of industrys' total energy use worldwide. As a potential solution, photochemistry in flow microreactors promises to sustainably produce chemical compounds and has received a lot of attention due to the prospect of utilizing (sun)light to drive these reactions. Still, the technique has not been widely used due to a challenging light management which prevents up-scaling. This is exactly where the EU Pathfinder project reaCtor comes into play by offering an innovative solution: microreactors will be integrated inside a specialty optical glass fiber, where laser light is coupled in and the chemical reaction is enhanced by plasmonic nanoparticles.
In the frame of a hybrid meeting, the project has been officially kicked-off on May 4th. The consortium consists of six partners from Germany, Spain, Poland, and the Netherland and combines experts from various disciplines: fiber technology, nanotechnology, laser-based nano-fabrication and photochemistry. Over the frame of the next four years, the project will receive a total funding of around 3.1 Mio. €.
