Fundamental principles of catalysis some basic definitions

2 Fundamental principles of catalysis some basic definitions 

Some of the basic concepts and technologies are described here. Catalysis can be divided into two types (1) homogeneous and (2) heterogeneous reactions. In homogeneous reactions, the reaction occurs between similar species, e.g. liquid-liquid reactions. In heterogeneous reactions, the reaction occurs between different types of species, e.g. gas-solid, liquid-solid and liquid-gas. Many industrial reactions are heterogeneous gas-solid or liquid-solid reactions. We will concentrate first on gas reactions occurring at solid catalyst surfaces  

Such reactions are multi-stage processes and the physical aspects governing them are (Bond 1987, Gates et al 1979)  

Normally, catalytic activity is expressed as the reaction rate per unit area of active surface (expressed as metre per gram) under given conditions. In a chemical reaction, catalytic conversion is defined as the fraction of reactants converted to products and selectivity is a function of the rate of formation of a desired product with respect to the overall conversion of the initial reactants. The reactant molecules transfer to the catalyst surface where adsorption may occur on an active site , with possible rearrangement of their bonds leading to a chemical adsorption (chemisorption), gas-catalyst reaction and the subsequent desorption of new species. The active site or phase is of high activity and selectivity for the desired products. Thus, the nature of the active sites is important. In many cases, it is not enough to have just activity. Selectivity to desired products is important and often modifiers or promoters are needed both to improve the 

In general, the rate (A ) of heterogeneous catalysis in a gas-catalyst (and liquid-catalyst) reaction may be expressed as the product of the rate coefficient A o and a function of pressure (or concentration), p, i.e. k = kof(p) where p is the partial pressure of the reactant, ko depends on the reaction conditions and may involve reaction steps prior to the first rate-determining step of the reaction. A convenient method for determining A o is to use the Arrhenius equation  

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