Catalyst design with porous functional structures

Abstract

The chemical industry is experiencing important changes. The driving force for these changes is a growing need to improve competitiveness and consolidate market positions while complying with the regulations for safeguarding human health, and the environment. Currently, what is known as "green chemistry" or "sustainable technology" is at the heart of the changes the chemical industry is undergoing. Catalysis and materials science will play an important role in this new approach. One domain with specific relevance is porous ceramics and metals, substrates with pores sizes ranging from vacancies at the atomic level to macro pores with sizes of millimeters. There are plenty of emerging applications for porous functional components. Each application will specify the window of properties of the porous material. A technology assessment of the developed porous materials and powder processing techniques for their use as catalyst or membrane system will be presented, limited to inorganic porous materials which can be synthesized by dry and wet powder processing methods. The applications overview for porous materials is focused on macroporous components with a designed functional coating. © 2012 WIT Press.