Editorial
5th
Virtual
Issue:
Solid-State
Catalysts
Whenaparticulargaseousorliquidreactioninchemistrydoes notoccurfastenough,weoftenchooseheatingasthemethodto raise the effective number of collisions between reactant molecules,and thus,tospeedupthereactionfurther.However, this is not always an effective method for surmounting the particularenergy barrierfor thereaction.Another efficientand economic approach in terms of time and cost is the use of homogeneous or solid-state catalysts. Solid-state catalysts are called heterogeneous catalysts, which can speed up a reaction without themselves being exhausted. One early and famous examplefortheuseof a solid-statecatalyst is thesynthesisof ammoniafromnitrogenand hydrogen over aniron catalyst,as developedbytheGermanchemistFritzHaberin1909. Remark-ably,theironcatalystcancausetheweakeningofstrongN–Nand H–Hbondswhennitrogenandhydrogenmoleculesarebondedon itssurface.ThestrongbondingbetweenNandtheironatomdoes notformnitrogenmoleculesinthereversedirection,butallows theproductionofammoniathroughcombinationwithHatoms. Now,thesynthesis of ammonia usedin fertilizer for biological purposesisthesecond-largestchemicalengineeringprocess.
The Editors of Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineersarepleasedtoannouncethata5thVirtualSpecialIssue, titled ‘‘Solid-State Catalysts: an Efficient Tool for Chemical
Engineering,’’ is now available for download on the Journal homepage (www.elsevier.com/locate/jtice). This virtual issue highlightsforty-onearticlespublishedintheJournalsince2009, which cover thefourmainapplicationsof solid-state catalysts: industrial chemistry, electrochemistry(electrochemical energy), environmentalscience,andbiomassscience.Thepurposeofthis virtualissueistosummarizethesetypesofadvancedcatalystsin differentfields,andtoallowabetterandgreenermethodtobe foundsooner,whichwillleadtoaneffectivesolutiontoproblems facedinengineering,energyandrelatedfields.
Chien-LiangLee*
DepartmentofChemicalandMaterialsEngineering, NationalKaohsiungUniversityofAppliedSciences, Kaohsiung807,Taiwan *Tel.:+886738145265131;fax:+88673830674 E-mailaddresses:cl_lee@url.com.tw cl_lee@cc.kuas.edu.tw(C.-L.Lee)
JournaloftheTaiwanInstituteofChemicalEngineers44(2013)145
ContentslistsavailableatSciVerseScienceDirect
Journal
of
the
Taiwan
Institute
of
Chemical
Engineers
j o urn a l hom e pa g e : ww w . e l se v i e r. c om / l oca t e / j t i ce
1876-1070/$–seefrontmatterß2013PublishedbyElsevierB.V.onbehalfofTaiwanInstituteofChemicalEngineers.
