Handbook Of Heterogeneous Catalysis

摘要

In each of the prefaces of this much-awaited handbook, we are reminded of the ubiquitous nature of the subject covered in this compendious collection of authoritative articles. The editors state that in about 85 to 90 percent of all chemical manufacturing processes use is made of a catalyst. Furthermore, in about 80 to 85 percent of all of those catalytic processes, heterogeneous catalysis is employed. A year or so ago, the worldwide trade volume for solid catalysts was estimated to amount to approximately 15 billion US dollars per annum; and the value created by using these catalysts was about a hundred to a thousand times as high. One must not, however, be overawed by the massiveness of these figures: their magnitude alone is not what is significant-otherwise we would construe the manufacture of cement or concrete as equally important-it is the perennial fascination, not to say enigma, of the phenomenon and application of catalysis itself that deeply interest us.