PROCESS DESIGN CENTER BV

Their core work

Process Design Center is a Dutch chemical process engineering consultancy specializing in the design, optimization, and scale-up of catalytic and conversion processes. They provide reactor design, micro-kinetic modelling, and process simulation expertise to help industrial and research consortia move chemical technologies from lab to pilot scale. Their core competence lies in translating complex chemistry — from CO2 capture to biomass conversion to polymer recycling — into workable industrial process designs.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their early H2020 period (2016–2018), Process Design Center focused heavily on advanced materials for CO2 capture (graphene aerogels, MOFs, carbon nanotubes) and bio-monomer production from biomass fermentation. From 2019 onward, their work shifted decisively toward catalytic conversion processes — methane-to-propylene, CO2-to-methanol, waste-to-biofuels — and bio-based polymer chemistry. The trajectory shows a clear move from separation and capture technologies toward active chemical conversion and circular economy applications.

They are moving toward catalytic CO2 utilization and biomass-to-chemicals conversion, positioning themselves as process designers for the emerging circular carbon economy.

How they like to work

Process Design Center operates exclusively as a specialist partner — across all 11 projects they participated but never coordinated, which is typical for a consultancy bringing specific engineering know-how rather than leading research agendas. With 118 unique partners across 19 countries, they are a well-connected node in European research networks, comfortable integrating into diverse consortia. Their consistent funding (~€430K–580K per project) suggests they deliver a well-defined, repeatable service package — process design and modelling — rather than variable research contributions.

With 118 unique consortium partners spread across 19 countries, they have built one of the broader collaboration networks for a company of their size. Their partnerships span universities, research institutes, and industrial players across most of Western and Central Europe.

What sets them apart

Process Design Center occupies a rare niche: they are a dedicated process engineering SME that bridges the gap between laboratory chemistry and industrial-scale production. While many consultancies focus on a single sector, PDC applies its reactor design and process modelling expertise across energy, chemicals, food, and environment — making them unusually versatile consortium partners. For project coordinators, they offer a reliable, sector-agnostic process engineering capability that de-risks the scale-up component of any proposal.

Highlights from their portfolio

• C123
  Their highest-funded project (€584K), combining methane oxidative conversion with hydroformylation — an ambitious one-step route from methane to propylene involving reactor design and micro-kinetic modelling.
• LAURELIN
  One of their most recent projects (2021), focused on CO2-to-methanol via heterogeneous catalysis — represents their evolution from CO2 capture toward CO2 utilization.
• WASTE2ROAD
  Covers the full waste-to-biofuel conversion chain (HTL, pyrolysis, hydrotreating, co-FCC), demonstrating PDC's ability to design multi-step industrial conversion processes.