professionals dr. angélique bétard professionals dr. angélique bétard faster, more efficient, and more selective: dr. angélique bétard of the catalysts business line strives to make catalysts ever more effective. the accelerators they may be present only in small amounts, but their ef fects are profound,” says dr. angélique bétard, a chemist in the catalysts business line in marl. she oversees the devel opment of new catalysts and the improve ment of existing solutions to make process es ever more effective. “eighty percent of all chemical reactions are accelerated—or enabled in the first place—by at least one catalyst,” says bétard. “without catalysts, an enormous amount of energy would have to be expended on the reaction. so they are crucially important for efficient and re- source-conserving production.” “specialization is the name of the game here. every member of the team has their own particular expertise that’s needed to take us to success.” dr. angélique bétard elements #61 the evonik innovation magazine 32 a good example here is evonik’s hppo process, in which propene and hydrogen peroxide are reacted to produce propylene oxide. the two starting materials would not react without high energy expenditure; they must therefore first be activated. this is done by a special catalyst, based on tita- nium silicalite, which is produced by the business line. the inorganic mixed oxide, with a structure in the nanometer range, is produced in the form of a powder and then molded into white rods that are 3 millime- ters thick. these ensure that the hydrogen peroxide oxidizes the propene, with water as the sole by-product. the main product is propylene oxide, which evonik’s custom- ers use to produce polyurethane foam; this foam is used to insulate refrigerators and houses, make cars lighter and more eco- nomical, and enhance the comfort of mat- tresses and upholstered furniture. “the most important thing for our cus- tomers is that, at the end of the day, their process runs effectively,” says bétard. “and one property of the catalyst is vital here: its tensile strength.” because this is the basic requirement for its use in reactors in the chemical industry, the catalyst must on no account be destroyed during use, even if it is subjected to high pressure in the reactor. several metric tons of catalyst are filled into the reactor. the lower layers of catalyst must not disintegrate and pulverize, despite the extremely high weight of the overlying lay- ers, else the reactor would become blocked and the process would grind to a halt. the perfect job “if that’s to be prevented, much work must be invested in the forming,” says bétard. “the forming process is extremely complex— as with baking.” for example, a wide variety of ingredients must be mixed, kneaded, and molded—and even a slight variation in the use of the components could make a differ- ence here. the moldings have the right ten- sile strength only if they are also dried and thermally treated under suitable conditions. “it may be necessary to produce hundreds of samples before a formulation can be carried over into production,” she explains. this is the perfect job for bétard—because she can bring to it the experience gained from her studies as well as her doctoral re- search. during her undergraduate study of materials science in paris, french-born bétard became familiarized with the ox- ide materials used to produce catalysts and with the catalysts’ synthetic pathways, properties, and applications. following her master’s degree, she came to germany for doctoral research at ruhr university bo- chum. “i wanted to work and do research in a place offering many opportunities for fur- ther development and exchange with other chemists—as is the case in germany,” says bétard. for her doctorate she worked on the preparation and detailed investigation of novel materials. “while that work was not on catalysts, i can now apply my method- ological knowledge every day in my present work with catalysts,” she says. new generations in the business line, she coordinates the research of her colleagues in the laborato- ry and the pilot plant. the aim is to devel- op new catalysts for new processes, or new generations of catalysts that can be used even more effectively than the preceding generation. this could mean, for example, that the yield increases, or that less catalyst produces more product, or that the service life of the catalyst is prolonged, saving costs and resources. “and ideally all of those,” says bétard. “for me the biggest satisfac- tion is when, at the end of the process, the catalyst is used at the customer’s and does exactly what it was designed to do.” this is why it’s important to her to ac- company the entire development of a new product, from its birth in the laboratory all the way to production in the plant. “this is also necessary because of the allocation of work in our team,” she says. “specialization is the name of the game here. every mem- ber of the team has their own particular ex- pertise that’s needed to take us to success. that’s why i always want to stay on the ball, to understand the critical steps.” the work-life balance at the same time bétard did not want to for- go family life: “why shouldn’t it be possible to have both?” fortunately, her husband also works in research at evonik, and to- gether they decided on a special part-time working model: “my husband works morn- ings and i work afternoons,” she says. “in this way we can both be there for the family and continue to stay active in the profes- sion—which is the perfect solution for us.” she plans to follow the same path with her second child: following the birth in march, she will soon afterward resume her research in catalysts at evonik. “my job is so varied that i learn something new every day,” says bétard. “every process and every catalyst is different. there’s never a dull moment.” t r e n n a b k r i d : y h p a r g o t o h p