Zeolite catalysts revolution

In quick succession, fluid catalyst products were announced and introduced to the petroleum industry in the Spring of 1964 by Davison and Esso (which eventually became ExxonMobil), and also by Filtrol, and the world witnessed a small revolution. In two years, 60% of the fluid bed units were using zeolitic catalysts, and in two more years about 85 % of those units were using them. Nalco and finally Cyanamid were forced to offer zeolite catalysts to stay in the business (67). In about 10 years, over 90% of a very cautious industry had embraced zeolites. 

The future of Raman spectroscopy in the research and the development of catalysts appears to be extremely promising. The recent revolution in Raman instrumentation has dramatically increased the ability to detect weak Raman signals and to collect the data in very short times. Thus, it is now possible to perform real-time Raman analysis and to study many catal) c systems that give rise to unusually weak Raman signals. The enormous strides in Raman instrumentation now allow for the characterization of a wide range of catalytic materials bulk mixed oxides, supported metal oxides, zeolites, supported metal systems, metal foils, as well as single crystal surfaces. Few Raman studies have been reported for sulfides, nitrides, or carbides, but these catalytic materials also give rise... 

A small selection of major reaction types has been studied, but the list is by no means complete. Enzymes, solid acids such as zeolites and Envirocats (see Table 16.3), and new oxidation catalysts are obvious cases where the new technology can bring genuine improvements to chemistry on an industrial scale. Metallocenes are now causing a revolution in polymer production, replacing conventional Ziegler-Natta catalysts for as many as sixty monomers [28]. Further catalyst improvements are still desirable, particularly in the areas of oxidation and aromatic substitution. 

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