Royal Society of Chemistry Catalysis: Volume 21 (Specialist Periodical Reports - Catalysis)

"Specialist Periodical Reports" provide systematic and critical review coverage in major areas of chemical research. Compiled by teams of leading authorities in the relevant subject, the series creates a unique service for the active research chemist with regular critical in-depth accounts of progress in particular areas of chemistry. Subject coverage of all volumes is very similar and publication is on an annual or biennial basis. There is an increasing challenge for chemical industry and research institutions to find cost-effective and environmentally sound methods of converting natural resources into fuels, chemicals and energy. Catalysts are essential to these processes and the "Catalysis Specialist Periodical Report" series serves to highlight major developments in this area. "Catalysis 21" will be of interest to anyone working in academia and industry that needs an up-to-date critical analysis and summary of catalysis research and applications. About the Author Professor Spivey is the McLaurin Shivers Professor of Chemical Engineering at Louisiana State University and Director of the DOE Energy Frontier Research Center at LSU. Professor Spivey's research interests include the application of the principles of heterogeneous catalysis to catalytic combustion, control of sulfur and nitrogen oxides from combustion processes, acid/base catalysis (e.g., for condensation reactions), hydrocarbon synthesis, and the study of catalyst deactivation. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Catalysis Volume 21 A Review of Recent Literature By James J. Spivey, Kerry M. Dooley The Royal Society of Chemistry Copyright © 2009 The Royal Society of Chemistry All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-85404-249-4 Contents Preface James J. Spivey and Kerry M. Dooley, 7, Heterogeneous catalysis for production of value-added chemicals from biomass Kresten Egeblad, Jeppe Rass-Hansen, Charlotte C. Marsden, Esben Taarning and Claus Hviid Christensen, 13, Catalytic and photocatalytic removal of pollutants from aqueous sources J. A. Anderson and M. Fernández-García, 51, Nano-architecture and reactivity of titania catalytic materials. Part 2. Bidimensional nanostructured films Gabriele Centi and Siglinda Perathoner, 82, Recent advances in heterogeneous catalysis enabled by first-principles methods Ye Xu, 131, Ionic liquids as catalysts, solvents and conversion agents Amit C. Gujar and Mark G. White, 154, Measurement techniques in catalysis for mechanism development: kinetic, transient and in situ methods Nora M. McLaughlin and Marco J. Castaldi, 191, CHAPTER 1 Heterogeneous catalysis for production of value-added chemicals from biomass Kresten Egeblad, Jeppe Rass-Hansen, Charlotte C. Marsden, Esben Taarning and Claus Hviid Christensen DOI: 10.1039/b712664f 1. Introduction Almost everything around us is in some way a product of controlled chemical processes. That is either chemical processes conducted in Nature or chemical processes conducted in the chemical industry. In the most developed parts of the World, it is in fact products from the chemical industry that completely dominate our everyday lives. These products range from fuels and fertilizers to plastics and pharmaceuticals. To make these products widely available, a huge amount of resources have been invested during the last century to develop the chemical industry to its current level where it is the largest industry worldwide, a cornerstone of contemporary society, and also a platform for further global economic growth. It can be argued that the enormous success of the chemical industry can be attributed to the almost unlimited availability of inexpensive fossil resources, and to a continuously increasing number of catalysts and catalytic processes that make it possible to efficiently transform the fossil resources into all the required compounds and materials. Accordingly, more than 95% of the fuels and chemicals produced worldwide are derive