ABSTRACT
The two main areas of catalyst research are new catalyst development and understanding the operations of the existing catalysts (1). We should note that there is a distinction between catalyst support materials and catalysts. Some examples of catalyst supports (sometimes referred to as catalyst bases) are amorphous and crystalline silica and alumina, and molecular sieves. All of these may sometimes act as catalysts themselves. More commonly, catalysts are modified catalyst supports that have demonstrated chemical activity for targeted reactions. The modifications can be changing the strength and/or the number of acid sites on the material or, in the case of heterogeneous catalyst, adding and activating specific species of catalytic metals onto the catalyst support. The objectives of industrial catalyst research programs could start from aiming to improve the properties of catalyst supports to the ultimate goal of improving the performance and reproducibility of the finished catalysts.
