Catalyst Preparation for the 21st Century

Abstract

Johnson Matthey Technology Centre, Blounts Court, Sonning Common, Reading RG4 9NH, UK Catalysis accounts for around three billion dollars per annum in the US chemical industry alone (1), and it can be estimated that each US dollar spent on catalysis creates around 155 dollars’ worth of products (see box below) (1–3). All these catalysts have to be prepared, and the majority of large-volume chemical processes utilise heterogeneous catalysts. Catalysts are synthesised by a variety of means, and over the last century there has been a consistent trend towards smarter preparation methods leading to higher-quality catalysts. In the light of this is it is perhaps prudent to consider how these catalytic materials are made and how they will be made in the future. With this in mind, the one-day symposium, Catalyst Preparation for the 21st Century, was jointly organised by the Applied Catalysis Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and the Catalysis Subject Group of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) and took place on 18th March 2010 at Burlington House in London, UK, home of the RSC (4). The event was a great success and there was a good atmosphere as the audience listened to seven excellent talks from leading academic and industrial researchers. These varied in content from methods of catalyst manufacture, to understanding the current place of catalysis in the world’s economy, to the challenges that must be faced by the scientific community over the next twenty years to allow us to maintain our current lifestyle. A series of insightful talks demonstrated how catalysts and materials can be synthesised in a controlled and predictable fashion to achieve higher activities and selectivities, and why heterogeneous catalyst synthesis should no longer be considered a ‘black art’. These talks covered a range of applications, organic reactions and synthetic methods: from fuel cells (energy production) to Fischer -Tropsch synthesis and the selective hydrogenation of unsaturated multifunctional molecules. The catalyst synthesis methodologies discussed ranged from impregnation, alloying and laser sputtering, to direct reduction and precipitation of stabilised colloids onto surfaces – the latter having been considered an academic curiosity until