Technology University

College of Engineering
Chemical Engineering Department
Chemical Process Engineering

Report of Catalysts
Student preparation
Omar qasim lafta
2023-2024
 The aim of this presentation is to provide a
general overview of the catalyst

Additional information for each Unit is provided within issued project documentation.

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 Reference:

• Synthesis of Solid CatalystsEdited byKrijn P. de Jong

• Studies in Surface Science and Catalysis Advisory Editors: B. Delmon and J.T. Yates
•

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 Agenda
1.1 Introduction

1.2 Properties

1.3 Advantage and Disadvantage Advantage

1.4 Types of catalytic reactions

• Heterogeneous catalysis

• Homogeneous catalysis

1.5 Examples of heterogeneous catalysis

1.6 Catalytic converters

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 1.1 Introduction:
• CATALYST: The substances that alter the rate of a reaction but itself remains chemically
unchanged at the end of the reaction is called a Catalyst.

• The process is called catalysis.

Promoter: Substance that increase the catalytic activity.

Catalytic poison: Decrease or stop catalytic activity.

• Types of catalysis: It is of 2 types

(A) Homogenous catalysis (B) Heterogeneous catalysis

(A) Homogenous catalysis: reaction where the catalysts are in the same phase as the
reactants.

E.g. Hydrolysis of ester into alcohol and acid catalyzed by H+ ions.

(B) Heterogeneous catalysis: reaction where the catalyst and reactant are in different
phases.
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 1.2 Properties:
A small quantity of the catalyst is enough to catalyze a large quantity of reactants into
products .Though reactants are same, the type of catalyst used may decide the products
formed.

• If 2 catalysts can catalyze the same reaction, the better catalyst is the one which
produces a greater reduction in activation energy.e.g. activation energy for the
decomposition of H₂O, for different catalysts.

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 1.2 Properties
• A catalyst lower the activation barrier for a transformation by introducing a new reaction
pathway.

Without catalyst With catalyst

• Catalysts provide an alternate pathway for reaction.

This alternate pathway requires lower activation energy and is easier to achieve and a
larger number of molecules can react and yield products.

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 1.3 Advantage and Disadvantage Advantage:

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 1.4 Types of catalytic reactions
• Catalysts can be divided into two main types heterogeneous and homogeneous. In a
heterogeneous reaction, the catalyst is in a different phase from the reactants. In a
homogeneous reaction, the catalyst is in the same phase as the reactants.

• What is a phase?
If you look at a mixture and can see a boundary between two of the components, those substances
are in different phases. A mixture containing a solid and a liquid consists of two phases. A mixture of
various chemicals in a single solution consists of only one phase ,because you can't see any
boundary between them.

You might wonder why phase differs from the term

physical state(solid, liquid or gas). It includes solids,

liquids and gases, but isactually a bit more general. It

can also apply to two liquids (oil andwater, for

example) which don't dissolve in each other. You

couldsee the boundary between the two liquids.

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• If you want to be fussy about things, the diagrams
actually show more phases than are labelled.
Each, for example, also has the glass beaker as
a solid phase. All probably have a gas above the
liquid that's another phase. We don't count these
extra phases because they aren't a part of the
reaction

• Heterogeneous catalysis
This involves the use of a catalyst in a different phase from the reactants. Typical
examples involve a solid catalyst with the reactants as either liquids or gases.

Note: It is important that you remember the difference between the two
terms heterogeneous and homogeneous.

hetero implies different (as in heterosexual). Heterogeneous catalysis has

the catalyst in a different phase from the reactants.

homo implies the same (as in homosexual). Homogeneous catalysis has

the catalyst in the same phase as the reactants.

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• How The Heterogeneous Catalyst Works (In General Terms)

➢ Most examples of heterogeneous catalysis go through the same stages:

• One or more of the reactants are adsorbed on to the surface of the catalyst at active
sites.
• Adsorption is where something sticks to a surface. It isn't the same as
absorption where one substance is taken up within the structure of another.
Be careful! An active site is a part of the surface which is particularly good at
adsorbing things and helping them to react . There is some sort of
interaction between the surface of the catalyst and the reactant molecules
which makes them more
reactive.
This might involve an actual reaction with the surface, or some weakening of the
bonds in the attached molecules.The reaction happens.At this stage, both of the
reactant molecules might be attached to the surface, or one might be attached and
hit by the other one moving freely in the gas or liquid.The product molecules are
desorbed.
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 1.5 Examples of heterogeneous catalysis
• The hydrogenation of a carboncarbon double bond
The simplest example of this is the reaction between ethene andhydrogen in the presence
of a nickel catalyst.

In practice, this is a pointless reaction, because you are converting the extremely useful
ethene into the relatively useless ethane.However, the same reaction will happen with any
compound containing a carboncarbon double bond
• One important industrial use is in the hydrogenation of
vegetable
oils to make margarine, which also involves reacting a carbon
carbon double bond in the vegetable oil with hydrogen in the
presence of a nickel catalyst.
Ethene molecules are adsorbed on the surface of the nickel. The
double bond between the carbon atoms breaks and the electrons
are used to bond it to the nickel surface.
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 Hydrogen molecules are also adsorbed on to the surface of the nickel. When this happens,
the hydrogen molecules are broken into atoms. These can move around on the surface of
the nickel.

If a hydrogen atom diffuses close to one of the bonded carbons, the bond between the
carbon and the nickel is replaced by one between the carbon and hydrogen.

That end of the original ethene now breaks free of the surface, and eventually the same
thing will happen at the other end.

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 As before, one of the hydrogen atoms forms a bond with the carbon, and that end also
breaks free. There is now space on the surface of the nickel for new reactant molecules to
go through the whole process again.

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 1.6 Catalytic converters
Catalytic converters change poisonous molecules like carbon monoxide and various
nitrogen oxides in car exhausts into more harmless molecules like carbon dioxide
and nitrogen. They use expensive metals like platinum, palladium and rhodium as the

• heterogeneous catalyst.

The metals are deposited as thin layers onto a ceramic honeycomb. This maximizes
the surface area and keeps the amount of metal used to a minimum.

Taking the reaction between carbon monoxide and nitrogen monoxide as typical:

In the same sort of way as the previous example, the carbon monoxide and nitrogen
monoxide will be adsorbed on the surface of the catalyst, where they react. The
carbon dioxide and nitrogen are then desorbed
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 • The use of vanadium(V) oxide in the Contact Process

During the Contact Process for manufacturing sulphuric acid, sulphur dioxide has to be
converted into sulphur trioxide. This is done by passing sulphur dioxide and oxygen over
a solid vanadium(V) oxide catalyst

Note: The equation is written with the half in it to make the explanation
below tidier. You may well be familiar with the equation written as twice that
shown, but the present version is perfectly acceptable. It is also shown as
a one-way rather than a reversible reaction to avoid complicating things

This example is slightly different from the previous ones because the gases actually
react with the surface of the catalyst, temporarily changing it. It is a good example of
the ability of transition metals and their compounds to act as catalysts because of their
ability to change their oxidation state

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 The sulphur dioxide is oxidised to sulphur trioxide by the vanadium(V) oxide. In the
process, the vanadium(V) oxide is reduced to vanadium(IV) oxide.

The vanadium(IV) oxide is then reoxidised by the oxygen.

This is a good example of the way that a catalyst can be changed during the course of
a reaction. At the end of the reaction, though, it will be chemically the same as it
started.

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 • Homogeneous catalysis

This has the catalyst in the same phase as the reactants. Typically everything will be
present as a gas or contained in a single liquid phase. The examples contain one of each
of these .

• Examples of homogeneous catalysis

The reaction between persulphate ions and iodide ions

This is a solution reaction that you may well only meet in the context of catalysis, but it
is a lovely example!
Persulphate ions (peroxodisulphate ions), S2O82, are very powerful oxidising agents.
Iodide ions are very easily oxidised to iodine. And yet the reaction between them in
solution in water is very slow.

If you look at the equation, it is easy to see why that is:

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 The reaction needs a collision between two negative ions. Repulsion is going to get
seriously in the way of that!
The catalysed reaction avoids that problem completely. The catalyst can be either
iron(II) or iron(III) ions which are added to the same solution. This is another good
example of the use of transition metal compounds as catalysts because of their ability to
change oxidation state.

For the sake of argument, we'll take the catalyst to be iron(II) ions. As you will see
shortly, it doesn't actually matter whether you use iron(II) or iron(III) ions.
The persulphate ions oxidise the iron(II) ions to iron(III) ions. In the process the
persulphate ions are reduced to sulphate ions.

The iron(III) ions are strong enough oxidising agents to oxidise iodide ions to iodine. In the
process, they are reduced back to iron(II) ions again

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Both of these individual stages in the overall reaction involve collision between positive and
negative ions. This will be much more likely to be successful than collision between two
negative ions in the uncatalysed reaction.

What happens if you use iron(III) ions as the catalyst instead of iron(II) ions? The reactions
simply happen in a different order.

• The destruction of atmospheric ozone

This is a good example of homogeneous catalysis where everything is present as a gas.

Ozone, O3, is constantly being formed and broken up again in the high atmosphere by
the action of ultraviolet light. Ordinary oxygen molecules absorb ultraviolet light and break
into individual oxygen atoms. These have unpaired electrons, and are known as free
radicals. They are very reactive.

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 The oxygen radicals can then combine with ordinary oxygen molecules to make ozone.

Ozone can also be split up again into ordinary oxygen and an oxygen radical by absorbing
ultraviolet light

This formation and breaking up of ozone is going on all the time. Taken together, these
reactions stop a lot of harmful ultraviolet radiation penetrating the atmosphere to reach the
surface of the Earth.
The catalytic reaction we are interested in destroys the ozone and so stops it absorbing UV
in this way.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) like CF2Cl2, for example, were used extensively in aerosols
and as refrigerants. Their slow breakdown in the atmosphere produces chlorine atoms
chlorine free radicals. These catalyse the destruction of the ozone.

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 thanks

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