Types of

CATALYSTS
And their applications

CATALYST
a substance that increases the rate of a chemical
reaction but is not consumed in the process.

HISTORY
The first industrial catalyst was probably the niter(kno 3) pot, which was
used in the early sulfuric acid lead chamber process when it became
known that oxides of nitrogen catalyzed the oxidation of sulfur dioxide.

HYDROGENATION CATALYSTS
Hydrogenation is the addition of H2 to a multiple bond . foundations of
hydrogenation catalysis were established, initially by the work of Sabatier
and Senderens. They generally use nickel oxide catalysts to effect
addition of hydrogen to unsaturated hydrocarbons or to the functional
groups of other organic compounds

APPLICATIONS OF HYDROGENATION
CATALYSTS
liquid phase hydrogenation of fatty oils, is one of the industrial
application
Apart from nickel oxide copper, platinum, and palladium, are also used
as catalyst for this reaction

NITROBENZENE REDUCTION
Nitrobenzene hydrogenation is the principal process for aniline
production. The catalysts that have been used include copper
chromites, copper oxide or nickel oxide

BENZENE HYDROGENATION
Large quantities of benzene are required throughout the world for a wide range
of applications. A high proportion is hydrogenated to provide cyclohexane, an
intermediate in the production of nylon fibers and resins.
Zinc and platinum are used as catalysts

OXIDATION CATALYSTS
Oxidation catalysts were among the first to be described and then developed
industrially. Because of the energy evolved, oxidation processes were originally
known as catalytically induced combustion. Some of the earliest catalytic oxidation
reactions used commercially are shown in next slide

NITRIC ACID
PRODUCTION PLANT
A typical modern plant for the
manufacture of nitric acid.
Platinum is used as a oxidizing
catalyst in the form of a gauze

PLANT OF
MANUFACTURE OF
FORMALDEHYDE
Iron oxide + molybdenum oxide
(iron/molybdate) is used as
oxidizing catalyst

CATALYTIC CRACKING
CATALYSTS
Catalytic cracking is one of the most important processes in a modern
refinery. It is the most economic way to convert low-value crude oil
fractions into more valuable products

NATURAL CLAY CATALYSTS

The industrial uses of clay minerals as catalysts date from the early
'thirties. The application of catalysis to the thermal cracking of oil
started in about 1931; pre-heated oil was passed downwards through
fixed beds of granular catalyst, often attapulgite

NATURAL CLAY CATALYSTS

, The catalyst had to be periodically burned off to regenerate it, and was
reintroduced at the top of the reaction column. The process wad called
static or packed bed process

FLUIDIZED CATALYTIC
CRACKING(F.C.C)
An improvement on the static process came when the granulated
catalyst was kept moving counter current to the pre-heated oil.
powdered catalysts are used in a fluid, free-flowing condition(fluidized
bed), circulated by the air-lift method

SYNTHETIC SILICA ALUMINA

CATALYSTS
Synthetic catalysts are more or less compositional duplicates of natural
clay catalysts The main advantage of synthetic catalysts is a
reproducible composition and having few impurities known to cause
deactivation.

ZEOLITE CATALYSTS
TCC catalysts containing zeolite gives more yield of gasoline. Compared with amorphous
silica/alumina catalysts, zeolites were much more active and formed less coke
The zeolite framework consists of SiO4 and AlO4 tetrahedra. These are
joined, through bridging oxygen atoms, to give hollow, truncated octahedra
known as sodalite cages,

CATALYTIC HYDROTREATMENT
Catalytic hydrotreating is an important process in petroleum refining used to remove
about 90% of contaminants such as nitrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and metals from liquid
petroleum fractions. These contaminants, if not removed from the petroleum
fractions as they travel through the refinery processing units, can have detrimental
effects on the equipment, the catalysts, and the quality of the finished product.

CATALYTIC HYDROTREATMENT
Typically, hydrotreating is done prior to processes such as catalytic
reforming so that the catalyst is not contaminated by untreated
feedstock. Hydrotreating is also used prior to catalytic cracking to
reduce sulfur and improve product yields.

TYPICAL HYDROTREATING
CATALYSTS

CATALYTIC
HYDROTREATMENT
Typical Hydrotreating Catalyst
Specification.

HYDROCRACKING
Aprocessbywhichthehydrocarbonmolecule
sofpetroleumarebrokenintosimplermolecu
les,asofgasolineorkerosene,bythe
additionofhydrogenunderhighpressureand
inthepresenceofacatalyst.

HYDROCRACKING CATALYSTS.

CATALYTIC REFORMING
Catalytic reforming is a chemical process used to convert petroleum
refinery naphthas distilled from crude oil into high-octane liquid
products called reformates, which are premium blending stocks for highoctane gasoline

TYPICAL REFORMING
CATALYSTS.
Platinum is the most active
Group VIII metal for the naphtha
reforming process, more readily
available and relatively less
expensive than iridium or
rhodium.

PETROCHEMICAL
CATALYSTS
Isopropanol was one of the first petrochemicals to
be produced on a large scale and is still widely used as a
solvent and chemical intermediate. Originally, production was
by direct catalytic hydration of propylene in the liquid phase
C3H6+ H2O C3H7OH
Concentrated 7098% sulfuric acid was used as the catalyst at
a low pressure and temperature

ACETONE FORMATION
Until about 1970 most of the acetone used was produced in the gas phase from the
azeotropic mixture of isopropanol and water by a
dehydrogenation process
C3H7OH CH3COCH3 + H2
A copper oxide/zinc oxide catalyst (1 CuO / 2 ZnO) was operated in the
temperature
range 22003400C to give a 95% yield at about 90% conversion

SYNTHETIC RUBBER
FORMATION
2C2H5OH C4H6 + 2 H2O + H2
The catalyst used is nominally a mixture of 75% magnesia and 25% silica
or siliceous earth, which are well known as dehydrogenation and dehydration
catalysts respectively. Up to 3% chromium oxide is included to inhibit the
formation of magnesium silicate.

CATALYSTS IN FORMATION OF
SYNTHETIC FIBERS
The production of nylons and polyesters, which were first synthesized in the
1930s, has led to the development of man-made fibers. The complex sequence
of catalytic reactions involved in both processes was originally based on 1930s
technology but, as the reaction mechanisms came to be understood, catalysts
were improved and, in some cases, new petrochemical feeds were introduced

NYLON 6,6
1,6-hexanediamine with 1,6-hexanedioic acid
(adipic acid) are reacted to produce the polyamide
polymer, Nylon-6,6
Nickel is used as catalyst

ENVIRONMENTAL CATALYSTS
Catalysts play key roles in the production of clean fuels, the conversion
of waste and green raw materials into energy, clean combustion
engines including control of NOxand soot production and reduction of
greenhouse gases, production of clean water and of polymers, as well
as reduction from polymers to monomers.

SELECTIVE CATALYTIC
REDUCTION S.C.R
Coal-fired power plant fitted with
SCR (Selective Catalytic
Reduction) unit
to decrease NOX content of the
flue gas.

CATALYSTS OF S.C.R
SCR catalysts are prepared from vanadium pentaoxide promoted with
either molybdenum. Trioxide or tungsten trioxide and supported on the
anatase form of titanium dioxide. Catalysts based on zeolites have also
been used successfully to remove NOX from the emissions of large and
small-scale stationary sources.

REMOVAL OF SULFUR DIOXIDE AS

SULFURIC ACID
This process called SNOX avoids problems associated with undesirable sulfur
dioxide oxidation in the SCR process. Sulfur dioxide is removed from the flue gas
in a small contact process unit after the nitrogen oxides have been removed by
the usual SCR procedure Conventional SCR and sulfuric acid catalysts are used.
Dust is removed by promoted vanadium pentoxide/titania catalyst.

Catalytic combustion processes are now being developed in

which the high temperature thermal formation of NOX is
avoided by operating at a lower temperature. So far, it has not
been possible to develop a thermally stable catalyst that can
operate at temperatures of up to 1300C so all the fuel/air
mixture is added to a combustor with three sections. The first
section contains an active palladium oxide catalyst that can
operate up to about 800C before being reduced to palladium
metal which is less active.

CATALYTIC COMBUSTION
PROCESSES

The palladium oxide catalyst is regenerated by reoxidation of

the metal as temperature falls.

A more stable catalyst in the second section continues the

catalytic combustion.

In the third section, combustion is completed by thermal

reaction and the gas temperature increases to 13001400C.
Overall, less than 1 ppm NOX is formed. Palladium oxide is
supported on a monolith coated with temperature resistant
barium hexaaluminate.

CATALYTIC COMBUSTION
PROCESSES

The increase in number of automobiles is resulted in an

enormous increase in urban air pollution level especially in
developing countries The three pollutants of concern emitted
from the spark ignition engines are unburned HC, CO and NOx

Two methods are being used to reduce harmful engine out

exhaust emissions. One is to improve the engine technology &
composition of fuels and introduction of alternative fuels so
that better combustion occurs and consequently fewer
emissions are generated. The second method is post
combustion after treatment of the engine out exhaust

AUTOMOBILE EMISSION
CONTROL

Without using catalyst, temperatures in excess of 600oC & residence time

greater than 50ms is required to oxidize HC and temperature in excess of
700oC is required to oxidize CO (Heywood J.B., 1988). But, temperature
ranges between 250oC and 300oC are required to oxidize CO & HC in the
presence of catalysts.

AUTOMOBILE EMISSION
CONTROL

Two way catalytic converter

Two-Way Catalytic Converter

works on two gases, CO and
unburned HC while the NOx is
controlled though exhaust gas
recirculation (EGR) and by
retarding the ignition timing.

Three way catalytic converter

The Three-Way Catalytic Converter (3WCC) works on all the three
gaseous pollutants of concern: CO, unburned HC & NOx. 3WCC
typically contain active catalytic materials (Pt/Rh or Pd/Rh) which
promote oxidation of CO & unburned HC and reduction of NOx. Pt and
Pd are used as oxidation catalyst while Rh (Rhodium) is used as
reducing catalyst for NOx reduction

POST COMBUSTION CATALYTIC

CONVERTERS