Lecture

Introduction into Catalysis: Basics and Mechanisms

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In course

ChE-410: Catalysis for emission control and energy processes

The course is an introduction to heterogeneous catalysis for environmental protection and energy production. It focuses on catalytic exhaust gas cleaning as well as gaseous and liquid fuel production. The course content is intensified in experimental exerc ...

Description

This lecture provides an introduction to catalysis, covering the concepts of catalytic reactions, types of catalysis (enzyme, homogeneous, heterogeneous), and the energy profiles of catalytic reactions. It explores the importance of catalysts in speeding up reactions by lowering activation energy and delves into specific examples like ammonia and methanol synthesis. The instructor discusses the significance of Fe2O3 as a catalyst in ammonia synthesis and explains the essential role of catalysts in reactions like CO oxidation. The lecture emphasizes the role of catalysts in promoting chemical reactions without being consumed, highlighting their crucial function in various industrial processes.

Instructor

Oliver Kröcher

Expertise Catalysis, Sustainable Energy Carriers from CO₂ and Biomass, Emission Control, Environmental Chemistry, Materials Chemistry Mission The Group for Sustainable Energy Carriers (GSE) at EPFL works on the development of catalytic processes for the production and use of carbon-neutral energy carriers and intermediates. Current Work Small-scale ammonia synthesis, using induction-heating and sorption-enhancement. Oliver Kröcher was born in Germany and received his Diploma in chemistry from the University

Official source

Related concepts (32)

Acid catalysis

In acid catalysis and base catalysis, a chemical reaction is catalyzed by an acid or a base. By Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory, the acid is the proton (hydrogen ion, H+) donor and the base is the proton acceptor. Typical reactions catalyzed by proton transfer are esterifications and aldol reactions. In these reactions, the conjugate acid of the carbonyl group is a better electrophile than the neutral carbonyl group itself. Depending on the chemical species that act as the acid or base, catalytic mechanisms can be classified as either specific catalysis and general catalysis.

Chemical reaction

A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Classically, chemical reactions encompass changes that only involve the positions of electrons in the forming and breaking of chemical bonds between atoms, with no change to the nuclei (no change to the elements present), and can often be described by a chemical equation. Nuclear chemistry is a sub-discipline of chemistry that involves the chemical reactions of unstable and radioactive elements where both electronic and nuclear changes can occur.

Reaction mechanism

In chemistry, a reaction mechanism is the step by step sequence of elementary reactions by which overall chemical reaction occurs. A chemical mechanism is a theoretical conjecture that tries to describe in detail what takes place at each stage of an overall chemical reaction. The detailed steps of a reaction are not observable in most cases. The conjectured mechanism is chosen because it is thermodynamically feasible and has experimental support in isolated intermediates (see next section) or other quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the reaction.

Enzyme

Enzymes (ˈɛnzaɪmz) are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. Almost all metabolic processes in the cell need enzyme catalysis in order to occur at rates fast enough to sustain life. Metabolic pathways depend upon enzymes to catalyze individual steps.

Catalytic cycle

In chemistry, a catalytic cycle is a multistep reaction mechanism that involves a catalyst. The catalytic cycle is the main method for describing the role of catalysts in biochemistry, organometallic chemistry, bioinorganic chemistry, materials science, etc. Since catalysts are regenerated, catalytic cycles are usually written as a sequence of chemical reactions in the form of a loop. In such loops, the initial step entails binding of one or more reactants by the catalyst, and the final step is the release of the product and regeneration of the catalyst.

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