Catalyst activation by reduction

Abstract

After having strictly defined the concept of activation by reduction the industrial procedures for the reduction of the catalysts for high and low temperature CO conversion and for ammonia synthesis are reported and the basic principles on which they are based are discussed. Emphasis is given to the difficulty of obtaining laboratory-scale data that can be easily connected with such industrial procedures. The experimental techniques used for basic and applied research on catalyst reduction are briefly discussed, in particular thermogravimetry and temperature programmed reduction. Finally the now available knowledge about the reduction mechanisms of the above-mentioned industrial catalysts is summarized. © IUPAC