Melamine-Based CO2 Harvesting-and-Hydrogenation Catalysts

• Applicant: Dr. Valeryia Kasneryk, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Technical Chemistry
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 569445791

Reactive capture (RC) is a challenging but promising alternative of currently used approaches for CO2 valorization, which minimizes thermodynamic losses and enhancing energy efficiency. However, most RC systems remain limited by low catalytic performance or high cost and low thermal stability. This project aims at developing cost-effective and scalable CO2 RC systems based on melamine polymer-metal composite offering structural flexibility, surface tunability, thermal stability and high catalytic metal dispersion to valorize CO2 to methanol and C2+ alcohols. We will correlate CO2 adsorption with systematically varied structural and functional properties of these dual-function composite materials and catalytic behavior in CO2 hydrogenation under industrially relevant conditions integrated with advanced kinetic modelling. Through this rational design leveraging atomic-level mechanistic insights from in situ and/or operando spectroscopy, and DFT calculations, we will deliver melamine-based CO2 harvesting-and-hydrogenation catalysts combining high CO2 adsorption capacity and conversion.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Czech Republic, Slovenia
• Cooperation Partners: Dr. Andrii Kostyniuk; Maksym Opanasenko, Ph.D.