Foundation stone ceremony for the new research building for the Institute of Catalysis Research and Technology (IKFT)

With the laying of the cornerstone on November 20, 2024, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) celebrated the start of construction of a new research building for the Institute for Catalysis Research and Technology (IKFT) at KIT. The approximately 6,800 m² building will house state-of-the-art laboratories, a flexible pilot plant, offices, workshops, and external storage facilities. The building is expected to be operational in 2028.

The new building will fulfill all the requirements for researching processes on catalyst surfaces at the atomic level, including the transfer of new catalysts and processes to the pilot scale. In the medium and long term, catalysts and process technologies will be researched that are needed for the production of chemical energy carriers based on renewable energies and alternative raw materials, chemical hydrogen storage materials, and products in the field of both basic and specialty chemistry. In addition, the IKFT is developing catalysts that will play an important role in the future carbon cycle and in achieving net negative CO₂ emissions. The IKFT will increasingly apply databased acceleration of catalyst material development for this purpose, with the vision of future automated and autonomous catalyst and process development.