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Studierende sitzt am Arbeitsplatz und schaut auf den Laptop. © Aliona Kardash​/​TU Dortmund

New DFG Research Training Group TALENT strengthens research for a sustainable chemical industry

© BCI​/​TU Dortmund University
The chemical industry faces the challenge of making its production processes more sustainable and at the same time reacting flexibly to fluctuating raw material and energy availability.

With the new research training group TALENT (Tolerant - Sustainable - Efficient), TU Dortmund University will bring together scientists who are researching solutions to these issues. The German Research Foundation (DFG) will initially fund the research training group for five years from fall 2026 with around seven million euros.

The Research Training Group will focus on researching chemical processes that can react flexibly and robustly to varying bio-based raw materials and renewable energy sources. While existing processes are mainly designed for stable operating conditions, the transformation towards sustainable and circular chemical production requires new concepts that work efficiently and reliably even under changing conditions.

Under the direction of Prof. Dr. Hannsjörg Freund (Chair of Reaction Engineering and Catalysis), 18 doctoral students will work on innovative approaches for the bio- and chemical process technology of the future in the first funding phase. They will benefit from the interdisciplinary expertise of the Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering and from modern research infrastructures such as the CALEDO research building.

In addition to the spokesperson Prof. Hannsjörg Freund, seven other BCI researchers are involved in the new group as project leaders: Dr. Marion Börnhorst (REC), Prof. Alba Diéguez Alonso (TP), Prof. Norbert Kockmann (AD), Prof. Sergio Lucia (PAS), Prof. Stephan Lütz (BPT), Dr. Thomas Seidensticker (TC) and Dr. Lea Winand (TBL).

With the TALENT Research Training Group, TU Dortmund University is strengthening its research in the field of sustainable process engineering and at the same time making an important contribution to the transformation of the chemical industry towards a resource-conserving and circular economy.

Further information on the Research Training Group and DFG funding can be found on the relevant TU Dortmund University information pages or on the TALENT website(www.rtg-talent.de).