Is a green chemicals industry even possible?

A clean environment and sustainable development aren’t necessarily the first things that spring to mind when the chemicals industry is mentioned. However, a new scientific centre is demonstrating that this is precisely what the sector can in fact help bring about.  

What is the Center for the Transformation of Chemistry? 

The Center for the Transformation of Chemistry (CTC) is Germany’s first large-scale research centre dedicated to circular chemistry. Established in 2025, it is projected to see enormous growth in the coming years and employ some 1,000 people by 2038. Its main facilities are located in the towns of Delitzsch in Saxony and Merseburg in Saxony-Anhalt – a region that for decades was synonymous with the lignite mining industry and its environmentally harmful practices. 

Who is behind the new centre? 

A total of 1.2 billion euros has been assigned, primarily by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space, to develop the CTC. The CTC has also teamed up with numerous partners in industry and science, such as Leipzig University and the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces.  

What does the CTC hope to achieve? 

Research groups and pilot projects at the CTC are working for example on recyclable chemicals and materials and on analysing the environmental impacts of chemical processes. Two visionary moonshots are the focus. The first involves developing an autonomous laboratory. Through the use of automation and artificial intelligence, this will be a fully digitised, intelligent system that can independently plan, carry out and optimise chemical experiments. The second moonshot is to develop a completely recyclable car. The idea is to create materials and processes that will allow industrial production to take place according to circular economic principles – making the chemicals industry truly “green”.