Catalytic Materials: Concepts To Understand the Pathway to Implementation

Abstract

The catalytic process mediated by solid materials plays an important role in current human wealth and environmental protection. It enables the production of clean fuels and chemical products, and it ultimately allows the mitigation of undesired gas or liquid emissions to the environment. These features are highly recognized by the scientific community, industrial sector, and society. Despite this relevance, the hurdles that must be overcome to become industrially relevant are less known. There are many demanding requirements. This commentary reviews, from an academic point of view, the implementation requirements of a catalytic material. The motivation for this perspective article comes from the existing gap between academic research and industrial application. This account first defines what a catalytic material is, from the structural and application point of views. It then locates the catalytic material in an entire system analysis. This includes active sites, reactor system, the entire plant and the integration with other processes. Subsequently, the properties of an ideal industrial catalyst are described, such as activity, selectivity, volumetric efficiency, compatibility, stability, and economics. Finally, it discusses challenges related to the next stages in the process development. These may limit the application, although the material is attractive at the fundamental scale. The discussed topics provide an overview of the fascinating world of catalytic materials and their challenges. The expectation is that more catalysis-based concepts will contribute in the future to more sustainable technologies.