Industrial Chemistry and Water Treatment

Catalytic Chemistry

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Catalysis is an acceleration or retardation of the rate of a chemical reaction, brought about by the addition of a substance (the catalyst ) to the reaction medium. Most chemical reactions in industry and biology are catalytic and play a role at some stage of the processing of about 80% of the goods manufactured in the, yet catalysis is a neglected subject in chemical education. Only very small amount of catalyst is needed to generate copious amounts of product. This is desirable, as many catalysts that are used industrially are very expensive. By choosing the appropriate catalyst, a particular reaction can be made to occur to the extent of practically excluding another. Many important applications of catalysis are based on selectivity of this kind. a catalyst does not affect the position of equilibrium of a chemical reaction; it affects only the rate at which equilibrium is attained.