Contemporary Catalysis

Fundamentals and Current Applications

Julian R.H. Ross

• Publisher: Elsevier
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9780444634740
• eBook ISBN:
  9780081000526
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Physical & Theoretical Chemistry
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Contemporary Catalysis: Fundamentals and Current Applications deals with the fundamentals and modern practical applications of catalysis. Topics addressed include historical development and the importance of heterogeneous catalysis in the modern world, surfaces and adsorption, the catalyst (preparation and characterization), the reactor (integral and differential reactors, etc.), and an introduction to spectroscopic and thermal characterization techniques. Building on this foundation, the book continues with chapters on important industrial processes, potential processes and separate chapters on syngas production, Fischer Tropsch synthesis, petroleum refining, environmental protection, and biomass conversion. Contemporary Catalysis is an essential resource for chemists, physical chemists, and chemical engineers, as well as graduate and post graduate students in catalysis and reaction engineering. - Covers all aspects of catalysis in a carefully organized text - Includes material on historical development - Provides a wide range of student tasks, case studies, and supplementary, web-based materials that are regularly updated

Part I

Fundamentals of Heterogeneous Catalysis

Outline

• Chapter 1 An Introduction to Heterogeneous Catalysis and Its Development Through the Centuries—Chemistry in Two Dimensions
• Chapter 2 Surfaces and Adsorption
• Chapter 3 How Does a Catalyst Work?
• Chapter 4 Catalyst Preparation
• Chapter 5 Catalyst Characterization
• Chapter 6 Catalytic Reactors and the Measurement of Catalytic Behavior
• Chapter 7 The Kinetics and Mechanisms of Catalytic Reactions
• Chapter 8 Mass and Heat Transfer Limitations and Other Aspects of the Use of Large-Scale Catalytic Reactors

Chapter 1

An Introduction to Heterogeneous Catalysis and Its Development Through the Centuries—Chemistry in Two Dimensions

Abstract

This chapter, after a short introduction, tells you how a catalyst works and gives several examples of simple catalytic processes. It then goes on to discuss the history of catalysis, including the development of some important concepts and processes, as well as outlining the development of the catalysis literature.

Keywords

Definition and examples of catalysis; historical development of heterogeneous catalysis; ethylene hydrogenation; Sabatier and Senderens; methanation of CO₂; oxidation of methane; sulfuric acid synthesis; Haber process for ammonia synthesis; methanol synthesis; Fischer–Tropsch process; steam reforming of hydrocarbons; chemicals and fuel from crude oil; environmental control catalysis; development of catalysis literature

Chapter Outline

• 1.1 Introduction 3
• 1.2 What Is a Catalyst? 5
• 1.3 Historical Background to the Development of Catalysis and Catalytic Processes 13
  • 1.3.1 Some Milestones in the Early Development of Catalysis 13
  • 1.3.2 The Earliest Industrial Catalytic Processes 19
  • 1.3.3 Some Parallel Advances on the Basics of Catalysis 27
  • 1.3.4 Developments Related to the Use of Oil as a Fuel or Feedstock (1937–60) 28
  • 1.3.5 Developments Since 1963 32
• 1.4 The Scientific Literature on Catalysis 35
• 1.5 Other Developments in the Communication of Scientific Results 37
• 1.6 Conclusions 38

1.1 Introduction

I assume that you are a chemist, or at least that you have enough understanding of chemistry to be able to understand its language and shorthand, and that you understand chemical equations such as:¹

$\mathrm{CO}+{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}={\mathrm{CO}}_2+{\mathrm{H}}_2$ (1.1)

(1.1)

or even abstract ones such as:

$\mathrm{A}+\mathrm{B}=\mathrm{C}+\mathrm{D}$ (1.2)

(1.2)

You will recognize that the equals sign (=) means that the equation is balanced and that the reaction is (mostly) at equilibrium; in some cases, there is a reversible arrow (

) indicating that both the forward and reverse reactions occur. You will probably also realize that the equations could have associated with them the enthalpies of reaction (for Eq. 1.1, $\mathrm{\Delta }{H}^{\mathrm{o}}=-40.6\mathrm{kJ}{\mathrm{mol}}^{-1}$

).² Further, you may recognize that should the equal sign be substituted by an arrow (→), we are more likely to be dealing with a reaction controlled by kinetics than by thermodynamics. However, when we are taught organic chemistry or inorganic chemistry, we sometimes forget these niceties and just worry about what products are formed when we add two chemicals together. And when we read an equation such as:

${\mathrm{C}}_2{\mathrm{H}}_4+{\mathrm{H}}_2\stackrel{\mathrm{Ni}}{⟶}{\mathrm{C}}_2{\mathrm{H}}_6$ (1.3)

(1.3)

we accept that the reaction is catalyzed by Ni–but often without asking why or how. Glance at your organic textbook (at least, if it is the type that I used when I was a student) and you will see many such “qualified” arrows, often without any explanation or rationale. In such descriptions, the catalyst is a “Black Box.” My aim in writing this textbook, from which I hope you will be able to benefit significantly, with or without the help of a lecturer or instructor, is that you should, when you have finished studying it, be able to understand all the parameters associated with such equations and have a much deeper understanding of what a catalyst is, how it is made and applied, and how it works (or does not work); and you should also be in a position to delve into the literature in a critical way in order to gain more detailed information on any reaction about which you may have developed an interest.

Following a rather elementary description of how a catalyst works (using ethylene hydrogenation, Eq. (1.3), and some related reactions as examples), this chapter gives a description of some of the historical milestones in the development of the concepts and practical use of heterogeneous catalysis as well as a brief overview of some of the current industrial applications of heterogeneous catalysis.³

The approach used in this book, as discussed in the Preface (see also the Appendix), will be based largely on the use of literature accessible through the internet, this methodology being part...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Part I: Fundamentals of Heterogeneous Catalysis
• Part II: Current Applications of Heterogeneous Catalysis
• Appendix. The Use of the Catalysis Literature
• Index