Heterogeneous Catalysis - Examples

Examples

Many examples exist, the table emphasizes large-scale industrial processes, although diverse examples are known.

Process Reactants, product(s) Catalyst Comment
Sulfuric acid synthesis (Contact process) SO2 + O2, SO3 vanadium oxides hydration of SO3 gives H2SO4
Ammonia synthesis (Haber-Bosch process) N2 + H2, NH3 iron oxides on alumina consumes 1% of world's industrial energy budget
Nitric acid synthesis (Ostwald process) NH3 + O2, HNO3 unsupported Pt-Rh gauze direct routes from N2 are uneconomical
Hydrogen production by Steam reforming CH4 + H2O, H2 + CO2 Nickel or K2O Greener routes to H2 by water splitting actively sought
Ethylene oxide synthesis C2H4 + O2, C2H4O silver on alumina, with many promotors poorly applicable to other alkenes
Hydrogen cyanide synthesis (Andrussov oxidation) NH3 + O2 + CH4, HCN Pt-Rh Related ammoxidation process converts hydrocarbons to nitriles
Olefin polymerization Ziegler-Natta polymerization propylene, polypropylene TiCl3 on MgCl2 many variations exist, including some homogeneous examples
Desulfurization of petroleum (hydrodesulfurization) H2 + R2S (idealized organosulfur impurity), RH + H2S Mo-Co on alumina produces low-sulfur hydrocarbons, sulfur recovered via the Claus process

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