Chapter 10. Catalysis and Catalytic Reactors
It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t see the problem.
—G. K. Chesterton
10.1 Catalysts
Catalysts have been used by humankind for over 2000 years.1 The first observed uses of catalysts were in the making of wine, cheese, and bread. It was found that it was always necessary to add small amounts of the previous batch to make the current batch. However, it wasn’t until 1835 that Berzelius began to tie together observations of earlier chemists by suggesting that small amounts of a foreign substance could greatly affect the course of chemical reactions. This mysterious force attributed to the substance was called catalytic.
In 1894, Ostwald expanded Berzelius’ explanation by stating that catalysts were substances that accelerate the rate of chemical reactions without being consumed. During the 175 years since Berzelius’ work, catalysts have come to play a major economic role in the world market. In the United States alone, sales of process catalysts in 2007 were over $3.5 billion, the major uses being in petroleum refining and in chemical production.