Requirements of a Successful Catalyst

Catalysts can be metals, oxides, sulfides, carbides, nitrides, acids, salts, virtually any type of material. Solid catalysts also come in a multitude of forms and can be loose particles, or small particles on a support. The support can be a porous powder, such as aluminium oxide particles, or a large monolithic structure, such as the ceramics used in the exhaust systems of cars. Clays and zeolites can also be solid catalysts. 

The preparation of catalysts is a mixture of art and science, but most of all much experience. Although the underlying chemistry is largely known, many catalyst preparation recipes are so complicated that it is not possible to write a complete scheme of chemical reactions in detail. 

Suppose that our tests in the laboratory have yielded a formulation with an excellent activity in terms of turnover per active site for a certain reaction, and a fabulous selectivity towards the desired product. Will this substance be a successful catalyst in an industrial application Not necessarily. It will have to be developed into a material with the following properties. 

Catalysts are generally developed for a particular process, i.e. for a certain reaction in a certain reactor under certain conditions. Mass and heat transport phenomena put their 

Concepts ofModetTV Catalysis and Kinetics. I. ChorkendorfF, J. W. Niemantsverdriet 

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