Johannes Pfeiffer receives the Master’s Award from the German Bunsen Society for his outstanding master’s thesis.
Johannes Pfeiffer focused his master’s thesis, conducted in the research group of Prof. Dr. Christian Hess, on the development and application of operando and transient spectroscopic methods (IR, Raman, UV-Vis) for the investigation of catalytic reactions. In the context of the activities of the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1487 “Iron, upgraded!”, he specifically explored the identification of active sites and mechanistic aspects of the selective oxidation of ethanol to acetaldehyde over iron vanadate catalysts.
Selective oxidations are of great economic importance; however, the industrial processes currently in use raise questions regarding their raw material basis, energy efficiency, and the catalytic materials employed. For example, the commercial production of acetaldehyde via the Wacker-Hoechst process from ethylene is energy-intensive and relies on palladium-containing catalysts. The oxidative dehydrogenation process investigated by Johannes Pfeiffer presents an attractive and, when using bioethanol, more sustainable alternative.
The Master’s Award of the German Bunsen Society was presented during the first colloquium of CRC 1487 in the summer semester.