Dr Kai Kalz
(Sasol Germany)

Dr Kai Kalz

Kai has been a team leader in research and development at the Sasol site in Brunsbüttel since 2019. In this role, he develops new products, applications and manufacturing processes in the field of inorganic speciality chemicals and catalyst carriers. What fascinates him most is the interesting and sometimes long path from the initial idea to the customised product, which is ultimately produced on a ton scale.

At CARE-O-SENE, Kai is mainly involved in work packages 1 and 3 . Here he develops new carriers for Fischer-Tropsch catalysts in the laboratory and drives the subsequent scale-up forward to production scale.

Position

Team leader in research and development (Sasol site Brunsbüttel)

Company

Sasol Germany GmbH

Areas of Expertise

Kai has developed a large number of new products at Sasol and accompanied the scale-up to production level. Before joining Sasol, he was a postdoc and group leader at the Institute of Catalysis Research and Technology (IKFT) at KIT, where he worked on the synthesis, characterisation and testing of heterogeneous catalysts for energy-related applications. The expertise he gained there in catalyst research is now helping him to develop customised catalyst supports for Fischer-Tropsch catalysts.

Kai studied chemistry at the Georg-August University of Göttingen, where he successfully completed his doctorate in the field of bioinorganic and organometallic chemistry.

"CARE-O-SENE brings together the knowledge, experience and passion of experts from various fields of academia and industry to create the transition to climate-neutral aviation through teamwork."
Dr Kai Kalz
Team leader in research and development

Dr.-Ing. Gregor Herz
(IKTS)

Dr.-Ing. Gregor Herz

Dr.-Ing. Gregor Herz heads the Modeling and Simulation group at Fraunhofer IKTS, which he took over after completing his dissertation in the group Process Systems Engineering. While his diploma thesis at TU Dresden and Fraunhofer IKTS focused on the simulation of electrolysis-based Fischer-Tropsch processes, in his dissertation his field of activity has expanded to techno-economic analyses on the utilization of hydrogen in large-scale industrial processes.

In the CARE-O-SENE project, he will be responsible for modeling the process chain from electrolysis over Fischer-Tropsch synthesis to product separation and upgrading. The main focus will be on the impact of new catalyst generations developed within the CARE-O-SENE project on the efficiency of the complete process chain and the resulting product spectrum.

Company

Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (IKTS)

Position

Group leader Modeling and Simulation group

"Sasol has a more than 70 years experience in Fischer-Tropsch catalysts and technology. Its time to take the next step to lead the industry into a sustainable and carbon free future with the help of our passion."
Dr Dirk Schär
Cohead Catalyst Development