BCMaterials’ Annual Workshop Puts Catalysis for the Green Transition in the Spotlight

BCMaterials, the Basque Center for Materials, Applications and Nanostructures, will hold the new edition of its annual workshop “New Materials for a Better Life” on Wednesday, 25 November 2026, from 9:00 to 14:00, in the auditorium of the Martina Casiano Building (UPV/EHU Science Park, Leioa). This year’s theme is “Catalysis for the Green Transition: Bridging Catalyst Understanding and Process Optimization”.

Towards better catalysis processes

A catalyst is a substance that speeds up a chemical reaction without being used up in the process: when the reaction ends, it is still there and can be reused. It can also steer the reaction towards the desired product and away from unwanted ones, a property known as selectivity. As a result, industry needs less energy, wastes less raw material and generates fewer toxic by-products. Catalysts are already behind fuels, fertilisers, medicines and plastics, and now they are key to cleaner alternatives: capturing and reusing CO2, producing clean hydrogen, or turning biomass and waste into useful products. Advanced materials drive this progress, from catalysts based on abundant metals that replace scarce or toxic ones to enzymes and nanocatalysts. Better catalysts mean a cleaner, more competitive industry and, ultimately, healthier environments and more sustainable products.

The event’s programme

After the opening by BCMaterials Scientific Director Senentxu Lanceros-Méndez, the programme has three blocks.

Block I, on process optimisation for green energy vectors, starts with Pedro Luis Arias (School of Engineering, EHU), who will explain how catalysis is moving from molecular understanding to autonomous discovery. Olga Gómez de Miranda Jiménez de Aberasturi (Tecnalia) will then present new bio-based materials for a more sustainable future.

Block II, on catalyst development and understanding, opens with Pablo Beato (CFM-MPC), who will show how Raman spectroscopy, a light-based technique, makes it possible to watch zeolites, porous materials widely used as catalysts, form, work and lose their activity. Max Garcia-Melchor (CIC energiGUNE) will describe how machine learning can accelerate the discovery of catalysts that convert CO2 using electricity, and Fernando López-Gallego (CIC biomaGUNE) will address biocatalytic materials for chemical manufacturing. Ana Beloqui (Polymat) will present innovative strategies to enhance enzymatic catalysis, and Hugo Salazar (BCMaterials) will explain how engineering the surface of MXenes, a family of two-dimensional materials, allows them to turn nitrate, a common water pollutant, into ammonia using light or mechanical energy.

Block III offers an industrial perspective on the green transition with Jon Meléndez Rey (H2Site), on pure hydrogen generation with advanced membrane technology, and Iker Agirrezabal (SBS), on adding value to plastic and bio-residues.

Attendance is free but registration is required before 18 November: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScXZpKD2CaKw_UU-iEUHK2-YoxcxLcBq92KnL-5i7jjWUaG5A/viewform

More information at https://www.nm4bl.org/