ABSTRACT
Catalysis research is central to the science of modern chemical processing, fuel technologies and environmental control. It controls more than 90% of the world’s chemical manufacturing processes and is one of the most important technologies in national economies. Modern society as we know it would be impossible without catalysis. In the United States, the United Kingdom and in other major western European nations, catalysis contributes substantially to the GNP. Catalysts owe their importance to their unique properties, namely their ability to selectively catalyse chemical reactions. Solid state heterogeneous catalyst materials such as metal oxides and small metal particles on ceramic oxide substrates or on carbon are the most common. They are typically used with commodity gases and liquid reactants. Selective oxidation catalysis of hydrocarbon feedstocks which converts them to key industrial chemicals, polymers and energy sources is the dominant process. In large industrialized economies such as that of the USA, catalyst technologies can yield annual revenues in the excess of $1 trillion. The annual cost of manufacturing catalysts is roughly several billion dollars. Generally, the cost of catalysts in a catalytic process is about 0.1% of the product value, making catalysis a highly economical process.
