Catalysis: Science and Technology (Catalysis (4))

A very wide range of catalytic conversions find industrial use in organic process chemistry. The scale of the ope­ rations varies enormously from very high volume pro­ cesses to specialty chemical preparations. Many of these processes are functional group conversions or class reac­ tions, and the more important of these will receive detailed treatment in specific chapters throughout this series. Nevertheless, the scope is very broad, and it is all too easy for the non-specialist to become lost in a large volume of detail. To try to avoid this, the first chapter in this volume, by Dr. Paul N. Rylander provides a working summary of the more important catalytic con­ versions of this type. In doing this, he also gives some valuable comments about catalyst selection, together with an indication of the reaction conditions used in practice, the more important of the problems usually encountered, and comments about the most important of the mechanistic features. It has long been recognized that an understanding of the chemical nature of solid surfaces is fundamental to an understanding of catalytic processes which may take place upon them. This question may be approached in two distinct ways. One is via surface crystallography which focuses attention upon long range order. The second concentrates upon the concept of the surface functional group where attention is mainly upon the chemistry characteristic of a particular localized atomic arrangement at the surface. In practice, of course, there exists a continuum between these idealized extremes. The development of a commercially successful process for the catalytic synthesis of ammonia was a scientific as well as a technical triumph. Its implications were conƯ siderable. It demonstrated the power of a combination of innovative technology and engineering together with basic chemical science, and it introduced ideas and techniques into catalytic science and process engineering which are still with us today. In a real sense, this process changed the face of industrial chemistry and process technology. Of course, the key step in the direct synthesis of ammonia was the development of an efficient catalyst, and the historical account given by Dr. S.A. Topham in the first chapter of this volume shows how this was successƯ fully accomplished, and how this was combined with the successful solution of other daunting technical problems to make the overall process possible. The microstructure of a catalyst is an important feature which determines its behaviour, and the electron microscope is one of the most important instrumental methods by means of which structural and microstrucƯ tural information can be obtained. Nevertheless, the elecƯ tron-optical processes of image formation are complex, but need to be properly understood if image interpretaƯ tion is to be done reliably. In the second chapter of this volume, Dr. J.V. Sanders addresses the entire field of the application of electron microscopic methods to the examination of catalysts Front Matter....Pages I-X Catalytic Processes in Organic Conversions....Pages 1-38 Nature and Estimation of Functional Groups on Solid Surfaces....Pages 39-207 Kinetics of Chemical Processes on Well-defined Surfaces....Pages 209-282 Back Matter....Pages 283-293