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Energy and Transportation Challenges for the Chemical Sciences in the 21st Century (2003) / Chapter Skim
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12. Opportunities for Catalysis Research in Energy and Transportation
Pages 70-75

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From page 70...
... Approximately one-third of the Gross Domestic Product of the United States today can be traced to the success of one or more catalytic processes. In the chemical industry approximately 80 percent of the processes use catalysts, and the percentage is expected to grow as concern over waste disposal grows.
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From page 71...
... De-Nitrogen Oxide Catalysts The transportation sector accounts for 68 percent of all of the petroleum used and one-third of the anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. In addition, the utilization of internal combustion engines for transportation results in a significant amount of nitrogen oxides and particulate emissions.
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From page 72...
... To reduce existing "smog" levels, Engelhard's PremAir technology uses a platinumbased coating on the radiator and air-conditioner condenser to convert groundlevel ozone into oxygen and carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide. Clean Coal Technologies The fact that a massive supply of coal still exists in this country argues for technologies that allow for more efficient use of coal and that burn coal with fewer emissions and less carbon dioxide.
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From page 73...
... Major improvements in lube hydroprocessing have come about through the use of the new MSDW-2 isodewaxing catalyst. Selective Reactions of Methane and Other Alkanes Currently a great deal of energy is expended to obtain starting materials, usually alkenes, for the chemical industry from petroleum or coal.
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From page 74...
... Linking Catalysis Theory with Experiment With advancements in computer power and the advantage of reasonable scalability to larger systems, density functional theory has made computational chemistry widely accessible in the chemical sciences, permitting direct comparisons to be made between theory and a wide variety of experiments. Examples of the application of density functional theory for prediction, understanding, and interpretation in surface science and heterogenous catalysis include: · understanding active site structures and structures of key intermediates in acid catalysis of hydrocarbon conversion by zeolites, iAs hydrocarbons will most likely be used for the foreseeable future, the development of hydrocarbon anode catalysis is another area of research that could potentially provide significant breakthroughs.
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From page 75...
... Although computational chemistry is far from predicting the outcome of a chemical reaction through full-scale modeling of the catalytic reaction in question, it can be used in conjunction with experiments to guide the experimentalist in potentially fruitful directions. Efforts should be made to formalize collaborations between experimentalists and theoreticians as much as possible in the future.
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Key Terms

  • catalytic reaction
  • homogeneous catalysts
  • catalytic processes
  • nitrogen oxides
  • efficient catalytic

  • functional theory
  • computational chemistry
  • metal complexes
  • heterogeneous catalyst
  • octane value

  • heterogeneous catalysts
  • oxygen using
  • compression ignition
  • density functional
  • preserve octane

  • catalytic process
  • ligand design
  • water splitting
  • sophisticated mixed
  • milder conditions

  • using phase
  • internal combustion
  • active site
  • starting materials
  • fewer emissions

  • clean coal
  • existing noble
  • obtain starting
  • main disadvantage
  • oxide catalysts


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