Polyfunctional Heterogeneous Catalysis

This chapter describes the principles of polystep catalysis, the technique of physically mixed catalytic components, some major polystep reactions of hydrocarbons, the petroleum naphtha reforming reaction, and other polystep reactions. Reactions on solid catalysts can proceed by several distinct steps of chemical transformation, each catalyzed by distinctly different types of catalytic sites. The chemical intermediates can exist as true desorbed species in the phase above the catalyst. The kinetic steps of the sequence of reactions are coupled to each other through the processes of diffusion of these intermediates. The classical laws of diffusion create a qualitative and quantitative link between the rate process and the thermodynamics of reaction steps. The criteria and principles involved have general applicability not only in catalytic hydrocarbon transformations, but also in other catalyzed organic reactions, in some of the largest scale industrial processes, in chemical laboratory experience, and in the biochemical world of life processes.