Wilhelm Keim
Wilhelm Keim (born 1 December 1934 in Oberhausen ) is a German chemist who currently works as Professor Emeritus of Chemistry. He retired in 2001 in Aachen.
Study and promotion of professional experience in the chemical industry
His chemistry studies completed Wilhelm Keim, first at the University of Münster and later at the University of Saarbrücken. In 1963 he earned his doctorate at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in Mülheim an der Ruhr. He then completed from 1964 to 1965 a two-year post-doctoral program ( " Postdoctoral Fellowship " ) at the prestigious Columbia University in New York City under the direction of Professor Thomas J. Katz.
Then germ entered the Shell Development Company in Emeryville, California, one to move to the head of the research group petrochemical two years later in 1967. The next stages of his career he was head of the department from 1969 Petroleum Chemistry and from 1972 head of basic research.
Research activities
After gaining practical experience in his many years of professional activity in the chemical industry, germ moved to the area of research.
His first stop was the Rheinisch- Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen. Here germination occurred in 1973, the successor of Friedrich Asinger and served as director of the institute, the Institute for Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry. However, he rejects in 1985 from the appointment to the University of Clausthal and the management of the coal industry association.
The research activities of Wilhelm Keim included the areas homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, the hydroformylation and the functionalization of olefins and selective C-C linkages. Here he focused on the heterogeneity of homogeneous catalysts and the two-phase catalysis.
Wilhelm Keim is one of the key figures in the development of the Shell Higher Olefins Process. The SHOP- olefins are widely used in many areas of industrial chemistry. Mentioned here is, inter alia, as a modification of polyethylene, ethylene - α -olefin copolymer, as a starting material for synthetic fatty alcohols by isomerization, olefin and the hydroformylation or by sulfonation to α -olefin sulfonates. Decisive he coined beyond the "Advanced Fluids" in Germany.
Wilhelm Keim is the author of numerous works, including around 200 publications and 40 patents belong. He is also one of the co-authors and co-editor of the Winnacker -Kuchler, a major handbook of chemical technology, which is considered the standard work for processes and products of the chemical industry today.
Honorary positions
The list of positions and honorary positions who are clothed Wilhelm Keim, both in Germany and abroad is long. He is a member of the Academia Europaea, of the Russian Academy of Sciences, of the supervisory board of Degussa AG and the Board of the German Chemical Society until 1996. He is an honorary professor at the University of Technology, Dalian in China and at the University of Hangzhou, China, was also Adjunct professor at the King Fahd University in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. He also holds an honorary doctorate at the University of Lille and honorary member of DECHEMA. He was Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the DECHEMA Research Institute and chairman of the board of German scientific society for oil, natural gas and coal.
Awards and prizes
Wilhelm Keim is a carrier of DECHEMA Medal, Alwin Mittasch price and the " Carl Engler Medal" DGMK. His name carries the title of " Willi germ - price ", which was in 2012 introduced by the section Advanced Fluids ProcessNet, an initiative of DECHEMA and VDI Society for Chemical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, in his honor and promote young researchers in the field of " Advanced Fluids " and whose application is awarded.