Prof. Johannes A. Lercher was awarded as an Honorary Professor at QIBEBT on September 8. The announcement was issued by Prof. PENG Hui, the deputy director general of QIBEBT, followed by conferring Honorary Professorship Certificate. Then, Prof. Lercher, introduced by Prof. LI Xuebing, gave a stimulating lecture titled “catalytic depolymerization and hydrodeoxygenation of lignin”.

Prof. Lercher is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the TU Munich, and also the director of Institute of Integrated Catalysis (IIC) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). He has been President of the International Zeolite Association and is Chairman of the Bavarian Chapter of the German Society for Oil Gas and Coal. He is currently Editor in Chief of Journal of Catalysis. His research is focused on fundamental and applied aspects of metal oxides and molecular sieves based sorption and catalysis, the design of complex multifunctional catalysts, in situ characterization of catalytic processes, and developing new routes to activate and functionalize hydrocarbons in petroleum and petrochemical processes, In recent years, his research is focusing on the catalytic conversion of bio-based material to transportation fuels and high value-added chemicals. His research activities in the field of heterogeneous catalysis are documented with over 400 publications and over 10 patents. He has won a range of awards including the Christian Doppler Award, the Shell–Center of Excellence Award, the PE-Award of the Indian Chemical Engineering Society, and Robert Burwell Lectureship.