Spatial effects on supported catalysts

The research is focused on the investigation of steady-state multiplicities and instabilities in heterogeneous catalytic reactions. Discussed in this article are recent work on these subjects and a new experimental tool, infrared thermography or infrared imaging, which has been proven useful in our studies and holds promise for more extensive application in catalysis research. Considerable attention has been given in the literature for the past couple of decades to theoretical and experimental studies of multiple steady states and instabilities in reacting systems, including heterogeneous catalytic reactions. With few exceptions, however, previous studies have invoked an ideal picture for the spatial description of the catalytic surface. In cases of a single particle, the picture usually has been one of uniform intrinsic activity. In assemblages of particles, such as in fixed-bed reactors, individual particles are usually taken to be identical and communication among them to be perfect in some cases, or simply described by a dispersion coefficient applicable to the entire catalyst mass in others.