In the area of refinery processes, our research focuses on improving existing chemical and petrochemical processes and developing new processes for the production of sustainable fuels and chemical feedstocks for the post-oil age ("defossilization"). The following goals are pursued in particular:

• Development of new or optimization of existing petroleum processing methods
• Upgrading of regenerative oil substitutes and petrochemical products
• Utilization of "green" methanol as a platform for the synthesis of sustainable chemical raw materials and fuels

The scientific issues include the development of new catalysts and sustainable process routes, reaction control, reactor design and process simulation.

Points of focus:

• Hydrogenation and hydrocracking of petroleum fractions and regenerative petroleum substitutes, such as waxes, middle distillates, vacuum distillates, products of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and olefin oligomerization
• Hydroisomerization of alkanes (e.g. fuel components, waxes)
• Upgrading of biogenic oils (e.g. rapeseed oil)
• MtX processes: Conversion of methanol into chemical raw materials and fuels, such as the synthesis of olefins (methanol to olefins, MtO), aromatics (methanol to aromatics, MtA) and gasoline (methanol to gasoline, MtG)