Editorial: European symposium on electrochemical engineering

The European Symposium on Electrochemical Engineering ESEE is organized by the Working Party on Electrochemical Engineering (WPEE) of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering every 3 years. The 12th ESEE, on June 14–17 2021, was planned at Wetsus European Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology in Leeuwarden but had, unfortunately, to be held online due to the COVID 19 pandemic.

The focus of the event was on “Electrochemistry for electrification and energy transition toward a sustainable future.” It captures the aims of the WPEE to showcase scientific advances in physical, chemical and biochemical routes toward a future where electrochemical engineering is part of a sustainable society, closing resource cycles and contributing to zero-pollution mobility and manufacturing. All around the rapid electrification of our society can be found, changing how we recover valuable resources in a more sustainable way, make chemical products, store energy, provide energy to our houses, and go from place to place. Increasingly we move from molecular building blocks and processes toward a world where the electron is the carrier of energy and information and is the key building block to create new materials.

The scientific program of the conference covered over 140 oral presentation and 25 posters, two tutorials and a match making session for academic and industrial researchers. Two important prizes of the WPEE were given and accompanied by award lectures: “Recognition for a Life Devoted to Electrochemical Engineering 2020 Award” to Professor Christos Comninellis and the “Carl Wagner Medal 2020” to Dr Emmanuel Mousset. Overall it was a very successful event, although we unfortunately could not meet in person and not visit beautiful Leeuwarden. This Special Issue is bringing together a small selection of contributions presented during the event. It was prepared thanks to collaboration of the journal editorial office and authors of the contributions and we hope, you will enjoy reading it.

We also would like to invite you to the 13th ESEE, which will be held in Toulouse from 26th to 29th of June 2023. Focus of the event is on the Electrochemical Engineering as the key enabling to overcome current societal problems regarding energy, environment, and life.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.