Avelino Corma, ITQ researcher, awarded the 2023 European Inventor Award for the Entire Professional Career
He is a pioneer in the field of catalysts. His legacy, however, is the Instituto de Tecnología Química (ITQ, UPV-CSIC) de València, an institution he co-founded to drive chemistry research in energy, sustainability, health and water.
Zeolites are catalysts used in chemical processes for a number of purposes, including improving the efficiency and environmental cleanliness of chemical reactions, in addition to breaking down crude oil into gasoline, diesel and other by-products. Zeolites are crystalline materials made up of silicon, aluminium and oxygen, whose porous structure allows them to act as sieves that trap small molecules, where a chemical reaction can then take place.
