The Catalyst Review - January 2015 - 6

MEDIa REvIEW

The views expressed are those of the individual author and may not reflect those of The Catalyst Review or TCGR.

frontiers at the Interface of Homogeneous
and Heterogeneous Catalysis
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), 2013
Free PDF Download: http://science.energy.gov/~/media/bes/csgb/pdf/docs/Chemical%20
Transformations/Catalysis%20Science/Interface_of_Heterogeneous_and_Homogeneous_Catalysis.pdf
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is a major source of funding for catalysis research and development (R&D) in the United States.
This funding is channeled through various divisions and programs of the DOE. The Catalysis Science Program of the Office of Basic
Energy Sciences (BES) supports basic catalysis research, which is performed mainly at the DOE national laboratories and at academic
institutions.
The DOE BES occasionally convenes meetings at which speakers present their DOE-funded research work to their peers and DOE
program managers. Attendance at these meetings is by invitation only. However, the DOE compiles and publishes reports based
on these meetings, making them publicly accessible to all. These reports provide valuable information about the state of the art in
catalysis and the researchers, research projects, and institutions involved. This information is not available elsewhere in one source.
From June 30 to July 2, 2013 the DOE BES hosted a meeting in Annapolis, MD, on the topic, "Frontiers at the Interface of
Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Catalysis." The meeting focused on three themes of high importance and priority for DOE:
1.
2.
3.

The interface of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis
Catalysis for conversion of biomass, carbon dioxide, and solar energy
Molecular catalysis, especially in organic synthesis

The participants were leading experts in catalysis from national laboratories and academic institutions. Only three participants
were from overseas-Germany, Switzerland, and Japan-and none were from industry. Many of the research projects involve
collaboration among academic institutions and national laboratories. Meetings like this one facilitate such collaboration, which is
beneficial.
After the meeting, the DOE issued a report with the same title as the meeting. This report is about 250 pages long and summarizes
31 oral presentations in nine sessions, 47 poster presentations, and two additional abstracts, totaling 80 items. A list of participants
with their affiliations and email addresses is provided. The report concludes with brief summaries by the moderators of each session.
There are no presentations or comments by the DOE program managers, which would have been useful.
The most informative chapters are in a standard format, giving the title, DOE contract number, the principal investigator and
contributors, their affiliations and contact information, the project's goals, DOE interest, recent progress, future plans, and
references-along with some figures and tables. However, other chapters are shorter and less informative, and some are abstracts.
Chemical catalysis can be classified into heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis. Each type has distinct advantages,
disadvantages, applications, and research needs. The practitioners tend to specialize in one of these two fields and hardly
communicate or coordinate with those in the other field. Through this meeting, the DOE is bringing these practitioners together
to learn from one another, unifying the two fields, and creating a new generation of advanced catalysts with the best features of
both types. Thus, traditional homogeneous catalysts are being supported, immobilized, or encapsulated in ways that facilitate their
separation from the reaction mixture while retaining their useful properties, including high selectivity and chirality. Biocatalysis was
not included in the report but biomimetic or bio-inspired chemical catalysis was included.
Chemical processes typically involve multiple steps or stages with different catalysts and reaction conditions at each stage.
Consolidating these stages into fewer stages and ultimately into one stage would be beneficial. This type of consolidation has
application in the conversion of biomass into fuels or chemicals, and some examples are given in the report.
Many industrial catalysts contain rare or expensive metals, such as the platinum group metals and some rare earths. Research
projects are aimed at replacing them with more abundant, less expensive metals, without sacrificing performance.
Continued on page 13
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The Catalyst Review

January 2015

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The Catalyst Review - January 2015

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