Dr. Patrick Schühle
“Our FAIR-H2 project is a matter close to my heart. Together with my junior research group, I am developing an innovative process for producing high-purity hydrogen and synthesis gas from biological residues. Mild process conditions and highly specialized catalysts enable decentralized application – exactly where biomass residues are produced. The SINATRA program gives me the chance to bring this technology to market maturity and to build valuable networks with young scientists as well as industrial and political players. I am particularly excited about the opportunity to lead my own group, to promote young talent and to explore new avenues together for a sustainable energy future.”
“Our FAIR-H2 project is a matter close to my heart. Together with my junior research group, I am developing an innovative process for producing high-purity hydrogen and synthesis gas from biological residues. Mild process conditions and highly specialized catalysts enable decentralized application – exactly where biomass residues are produced. The SINATRA program gives me the chance to bring this technology to market maturity and to build valuable networks with young scientists as well as industrial and political players. I am particularly excited about the opportunity to lead my own group, to promote young talent and to explore new avenues together for a sustainable energy future.”
Junior Research Group Leader
Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg
Foto: Ahnen&Enkel/Silke Reents
Scientific career and research areas
Patrick Schühle completed his bachelor’s degree in biotechnology (2010-2014) at Esslingen University of Applied Sciences, where he wrote his bachelor’s thesis in cooperation with Bayer Technology Services. For his Master’s thesis, he switched to the Chemical and Bioengineering program (2014-2017) at the Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg. During this time, he also had a five-month industrial research stay at Sartorius Stedim Biotech in Aubagne, France. From 2017 to 2021, he worked as a PhD student at the Chair of Chemical Reaction Engineering in cooperation with the Energy Campus Nuremberg, where he conducted research on methanol synthesis from CO2 on In2O3-based catalysts in slurry and fixed-bed reactors. After completing his doctorate in 2021, he took over as head of the research group “Catalytic Systems for Chemical Energy Storage” at the Chair of Chemical Reaction Engineering at Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg and in 2024 as head of the BMBF junior research group “FAIR-H2”.
Patrick Schühle’s research areas are hydrogen and synthesis gas production from waste biomass, chemical hydrogen storage in dimethyl ether, formic acid and LOHC and, in connection with this, catalytic dehydrogenation in the gas and liquid phase. To this end, his working group synthesizes and characterizes phosphorus-containing catalysts and indium oxide-based catalysts for heterogeneous catalysis.
Major awards, achievements and scholarships
The working group headed by Patrick Schühle
