Fundamentals of industrial catalytic processes

Catalysis is central to the chemical industry, as it is directly or indirectly involved in the production of almost all useful chemical products. By implication, it is central to any technically advanced society, as the chemical industry provides most of the products which might be used to characterize such advancement. From the manufacture of bulk and speciality chemicals, through the production of fuels by petroleum refining to the control of unwanted environmental degradation, catalysts have a pivotal role to play. The development of useful catalysts and catalytic processes is a multidisciplinary effort involving chemists, chemical and process engineers and business professionals. Such efforts require the participants to be well informed on many topics, including the fundamental science of catalyst activity and action, existing processes and catalysts and the presumed mechanisms of action. In this important new book, the authors, both with wide experience of the development and deployment of catalytic processes, have presented the definitive account of industrial catalytic processes. Starting with a clear, lucid and detailed account of the fundamentals of catalytic processes, including chemistry, catalyst preparation, properties and reaction engineering, they then consider the main heterogeneous catalytic processes employed by industry. In the second section, the authors provide detailed data on existing catalysts and catalytic reactions, process design and chemical engineering. In addition, homogeneous catalysis, enzyme catalysis, environmental catalysis and the use of catalysts in the production of polymers are fully documented. Throughout the book the information is illustrated with many case studies and problems. The book is invaluable to anyone wanting a clear account of industrial catalytic processes, but is particularly useful to industrial and academic chemists and engineers and graduate students working on catalysis.