Remote control of catalytic sites by spillover species: A chemical reaction engineering approach

Introduction Evidence has accumulated in the last 20 years that spillover processes play a crucial role in many catalytic phenomena. Four symposia have highlighted the advances of knowledge in this area, and the progressive recognition that the phenomena have extremely important consequences (Delmon et al., 1973; Inui et al., 1993; Pajonk et al., 1983; Steinberg, 1989). In spite of this, very few kinetic models incorporating spillover have been presented. Little attention, if any, is given to these phenomena in the design of processes or in the definition of operating conditions. ∗Review based on a lecture presented at the 13th Colloquim on Chemical Reaction Engineering (13 CCRE), held in Windsor Castle, U.K., and jointly organized by the Working Parties “Chemical Reaction Engineering” and “Chemical Engineering in the Applications of Catalysis” of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering.