Using Robotics to Remove the Harmful Effects of Toxic Metals in Industrially Relevant Processes

Organometallic catalysis is one of the most vibrant and essential areas worldwide in scientific research, with impact in a broad range of industrially relevant fields such as pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and materials. Many metal-catalysed reactions rely on the use of precious metals such as palladium, iridium and rhodium; the high cost of these metals and risk of dwindling supply render these processes unsustainable.

Attention over the last decade has turned towards the development of more abundant and cheaper base-metals. Major challenges in this field are a lack of understanding and low predictability, thus significantly higher loadings of catalyst are used when compared to precious metals. Despite being more abundant and cheaper, many of the base metals pose significant toxic risks, both when handling the precursors prior to the reaction and in their disposal, particularly as high loadings are used.

Nickel, which has been developed as a highly attractive alternative for many metal catalysed processes, is highly toxic.

This project will explore the use of robotics to reduce and ultimately eliminate the toxic effects of nickel when used in processes relevant to the pharmaceutical and agrochemical sectors. The generation of (pre)catalysts electrochemically and in flow, directly from a metal plate, will eliminate the need to handle nickel precursors in the form of powders prior to a reaction.

The use of a unique flow platform for catalyst screening and optimisation will generate data to understand the processes, thus enabling the amount of nickel required for a particular reaction to be reduced. Electrochemical recovery of the nickel following the process will reduce the risk of the metals being released into waste streams.