Catalysis is the increase in rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst. Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycles quickly, very small amounts of catalyst often suffice; mixing, surface area, and temperature are important factors in reaction rate. Catalysts generally react with one or more reactants to form intermediates that subsequently give the final reaction product, in the process of regenerating the catalyst.
In chemistry, dehydrogenation is a chemical reaction that involves the removal of hydrogen, usually from an organic molecule. It is the reverse of hydrogenation. Dehydrogenation is important, both as a useful reaction and a serious problem. At its simplest, it is a useful way of converting alkanes, which are relatively inert and thus low-valued, to olefins, which are reactive and thus more valuable. Alkenes are precursors to aldehydes, alcohols, polymers, and aromatics. As a problematic reaction, the fouling and inactivation of many catalysts arises via coking, which is the dehydrogenative polymerization of organic substrates.
A chemical reactor is an enclosed volume in which a chemical reaction takes place. In chemical engineering, it is generally understood to be a process vessel used to carry out a chemical reaction, which is one of the classic unit operations in chemical process analysis. The design of a chemical reactor deals with multiple aspects of chemical engineering. Chemical engineers design reactors to maximize net present value for the given reaction. Designers ensure that the reaction proceeds with the highest efficiency towards the desired output product, producing the highest yield of product while requiring the least amount of money to purchase and operate. Normal operating expenses include energy input, energy removal, raw material costs, labor, etc. Energy changes can come in the form of heating or cooling, pumping to increase pressure, frictional pressure loss or agitation.
Steam reforming or steam methane reforming (SMR) is a method for producing syngas (hydrogen and carbon monoxide) by reaction of hydrocarbons with water. Commonly natural gas is the feedstock. The main purpose of this technology is often hydrogen production, although syngas has multiple other uses such as production of ammonia or methanol. The reaction is represented by this equilibrium:
Heterogeneous catalysis is catalysis where the phase of catalysts differs from that of the reagents or products. The process contrasts with homogeneous catalysis where the reagents, products and catalyst exist in the same phase. Phase distinguishes between not only solid, liquid, and gas components, but also immiscible mixtures, or anywhere an interface is present.
The water–gas shift reaction (WGSR) describes the reaction of carbon monoxide and water vapor to form carbon dioxide and hydrogen:
Mark Sebastian Wainwright is an Australian chemical engineer and emeritus professor of the University of New South Wales, and institutional leader within the Australian academic and technological sectors. He served as seventh vice chancellor and president of the UNSW from 2004 to 2006. In 2004 he was appointed a member of the Order of Australia for services to chemical engineering as a researcher and academic, and to tertiary education. In 2007 he was awarded an honorary doctorate of science by the University of New South Wales. He was born 20 Oct.,1943.
Willis Harmon Ray is an American chemical engineer, control theorist, applied mathematician, and a Vilas Research emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison notable for being the 2000 winner of the prestigious Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award and the 2019 winner of the Neal Amundson Award.
Neal Russell Amundson was an American chemical engineer and applied mathematician. He was the chair of the department of chemical engineering at the University of Minnesota for over 25 years. Later, he was the Cullen Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Mathematics at the University of Houston. Amundson was considered one of the most prominent chemical engineering educators and researchers in the United States. The Chemical Engineering and Materials Science building at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities bears his name.
Lanny D. Schmidt was an American chemist, inventor, author, and Regents Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota. He is well known for his extensive work in surface science, detailed chemistry (microkinetics), chemical reaction engineering, catalysis, and renewable energy. He is also well known for mentoring over a hundred graduate students and his work on millisecond reactors and reactive flash volatilization.
Chemical reaction engineering is a specialty in chemical engineering or industrial chemistry dealing with chemical reactors. Frequently the term relates specifically to catalytic reaction systems where either a homogeneous or heterogeneous catalyst is present in the reactor. Sometimes a reactor per se is not present by itself, but rather is integrated into a process, for example in reactive separations vessels, retorts, certain fuel cells, and photocatalytic surfaces. The issue of solvent effects on reaction kinetics is also considered as an integral part.
Arvind Varma was the R. Games Slayter Distinguished Professor, School of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University. His research interests are in chemical and catalytic reaction engineering, and new energy sources.
A fractal catalytic model is a mathematical representation of chemical catalysis in an environment with fractal characteristics.
Operando spectroscopy is an analytical methodology wherein the spectroscopic characterization of materials undergoing reaction is coupled simultaneously with measurement of catalytic activity and selectivity. The primary concern of this methodology is to establish structure-reactivity/selectivity relationships of catalysts and thereby yield information about mechanisms. Other uses include those in engineering improvements to existing catalytic materials and processes and in developing new ones.
Yurii Shaevich Matros was a Soviet and American scientist in the field of chemical engineering, known for his achievement in the theory and practice of heterogeneous catalytic processes. He is acknowledged as a “Godfather” of realization of catalytic processes in forced unsteady state conditions. Matros developed a catalytic reactor with periodic changes of direction of flow rate in packed bed of catalyst. This reactor is widely known in scientific and applied literature as an example of an application of developed theory of forced unsteady processes. Yurii Matros possessed a full doctoral degree of science and was a professor.
Grigoriy Yablonsky is an expert in the area of chemical kinetics and chemical engineering, particularly in catalytic technology of complete and selective oxidation, which is one of the main driving forces of sustainable development.
Filamentous carbon is a carbon-containing deposit structure that refers to several allotropes of carbon, including carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers, and microcoils. It forms from gaseous carbon compounds. Filamentous carbon structures all contain metal particles. These are either iron, cobalt, or nickel or their alloys. Deposits of it also significantly disrupt synthesis gas methanation. Acetylene is involved in a number of method of the production of filamentous carbon. The structures of filamentous carbon are mesoporous and on the micrometer scale in dimension. Most reactions that form the structures take place at or above 280 °C (536 °F).
Dan Luss is an American chemical engineer, who is the Cullen Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Houston. He is known for his work in chemical reaction engineering, complex reacting systems, multiple steady-states reactor design, dynamics of chemical reactors, and combustion.
Guy B. Marin is professor emeritus of chemical engineering at the Ghent University, Belgium. He is founding member of the Laboratory for Chemical Technology (LCT) and the Center of Sustainable Chemistry (CSC) at Ghent University. Prior to that, he has been teaching at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry of Eindhoven University of Technology. His research on chemical kinetics and chemical reaction engineering led in 2015 to a spinoff company. He co-authored two books, Kinetics of Chemical Reactions: Decoding Complexity and Advanced Data Analysis and Modelling in Chemical Engineering.
The fasil process is an industrial method for producing formaldehyde from methanol, utilizing a silver catalyst. It is one of the two primary large-scale formaldehyde production methods, alongside the metal oxide process.
