Major Advances and Challenges in Heterogeneous Catalysis for Environmental Applications: A Review

• Published in: Ecological Chemistry and Engineering S Vol. 25; no. 1; pp. 9 - 34
• Main Authors: Wacławek, Stanisław, Padil, Vinod V.T., Černík, Miroslav
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Opole De Gruyter Open 01.03.2018; De Gruyter Poland
• Subjects: air; Catalysis; catalytic activity; engineering; environmental chemistry; Environmental science; heterogeneous catalysis; Innovations; Nanotechnology; Organic chemistry; remediation; renewable energy sources; Soil treatment; Soil water; sustainable chemistry; Sustainable energy; use of renewables; wastewater; Wastewater treatment
• ISSN: 1898-6196; 2084-4549; 1898-6196; 2084-4549
• DOI: 10.1515/eces-2018-0001

Heterogeneous catalysis is one of the fastest developing branches of chemistry. Moreover, it is strongly connected to popular environment-related applications. Owing to the very fast changes in this field, for example, numerous discoveries in nanoscience and nanotechnologies, it is believed that an update of the literature on heterogeneous catalysis could be beneficial. This review not only covers the new developments of heterogeneous catalysis in environmental sciences but also touches its historical aspects. A short introduction to the mechanism of heterogeneous catalysis with a small section on advances in this field has also been elaborated. In the first part, recent innovations in the field of catalytic air, water, wastewater and soil treatment are presented, whereas in the second part, innovations in the use of heterogeneous catalysis for obtaining sustainable energy and chemicals are discussed. Catalytic processes are ubiquitous in all branches of chemistry and there are still many unsolved issues concerning them.