Catalysis : science and technology. Volume 5

Catalytic steam reforming has grown during the last two or three decades into one of the world's great catalytic processes. It is of major economic significance since the products from it form the feed for a number of other major processes. Nevertheless, catalytic steam reforming is a relatively difficult technology. It operates at high temperatures where problems of the maintenance of materials integrity and of catalyst stability and activity are severe, the establishment of high thermal efficiency of the plant is economically vital, and reactor operation is strongly influenced by mass and heat transport effects. The process is the subject of a thorough review by Dr. J. R. Rostrup-Nielsen who discusses both the basic cataly­ tic chemistry and the way in which this is interrelated with reactor and plant design. The use of catalytic converters for the purification of automotive exhaust gases is a relatively new technology which was brought into existence by social pressures for the preservation of acceptable environmental conditions. The majority of catalytic practitioners have been able to watch the growth of this technology from its inception to its current state of sophistication. Automotive catalytic converter technology is now in a mature state, and the chapter in this volume by Dr. K. C. Taylor provides a review which covers both the process chemistry and the most important converter design factors. For catalytic practitioners who are concerned with laboratory studies of reaction mechanisins, as often as not catalyst deactivation is· treated as a nuisance to be ignored or factored out of the experimental results. HowƯ ever, the engineer concerned with the design and operaƯ tion of real catalysts and processes cannot afford this luxury: for him deactivation and the need for regeneraƯ tion are inevitable facts of life which need to be treated as quantified design parameters. The first chapter in this volume by Prof. J.B. Butt deals with catalyst deactivation and regeneration as processes in their own right, and shows how they are to be approached from kinetic and design points of view. Catalytic olefin polymerization spans a very wide field in catalytic process chemistry and technology. Processes of this sort range from the generation of high volume products such as polyethylene and polypropylene, through more specialized commercial products, to conƯ versions that still remain laboratory curiosities. The reaction chemistry is, in detail, often very complex. However, because of the insight provided by organoƯ metallic reaction chemistry, many of the polymerization mechanisms are reasonably well understood, and the way in which product stereospecificity may be obtained is also understood in considerable detail. This highly complex subject is reviewed in detail in the second chapter of this volume by Prof. I. Pasquon and Dr. G. Giannini 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 Steam Reforming....Pages 1-117 Automobile Catalytic Converters....Pages 119-170 Infrared Spectroscopy in Catalytic Research....Pages 171-220 X-Ray Techniques in Catalysis....Pages 221-273 Back Matter....Pages 275-281