The NEWLIFE project aims at converting industrial waste into high-value chemical products: (1) metallurgical waste, known as slag, will be converted into highly active and selective catalysts for (2) CO₂-assisted oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of C2-C4 alkanes into alkenes. This aim relies on mastering the understanding and control of High Entropy mixed Metal Oxides (HEMOs) - materials that can be prepared from slag and tuned for optimal performance in CO₂-assisted ODH. 

The presence of multiple cations in HEMOs stabilizes unique structures with drastically improved catalytic properties due to the additional configurational entropy. NEWLIFE will screen the vast compositional space offered by typical slags to prepare HEMOs, which will then be investigated from two perspectives – synchrotron-based operando spectroscopies, to characterize their electronic properties, and advanced kinetic techniques, such as Temporal Analysis of Products (TAP), to provide a detailed view on their reactivity. The team will construct a holistic knowledge-base, including Machine Learning (ML) models, required for converting slag into HEMOs with desirable properties.

The impact of NEWLIFE extends well beyond the chosen model reaction of CO₂-assisted ODH. Slag re-purposing can generate enormous value by reducing the accumulation of waste and improving the efficiency and sustainability of chemical processes such as chemical looping, dry reforming, reverse water-gas shift, sorption-enhanced catalysis, and CO₂ capture. Above all, the synergies embedded within the project will push the boundaries of fundamental science affecting countless topics in chemistry of materials and applied physics.