Solid acid catalysis: From fundamentals to applications

Solids that possess acidic properties on their surfaces function as catalysts just like liquid acids, such as sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid. By using solid acid catalysts, chemical processes become more productive and more environment-friendly. Actually solid acids are being used in many industrial chemical processes from the largest chemical process of catalytic cracking in petroleum refining to synthesis of various fine chemicals. This book covers fundamentals of solid acid catalysis (history, fundamentals, and characterization)and gives details of different types of catalysts and solid acid-catalyzed reactions as well as the industrial applications. The book consists of six chapters. The initial two chapters describe fundamentals of solid acid catalysis, including historical development, generation of acid sites, definition of acidic properties on the surface, and roles of acid sites in catalysis. These chapters are for students and young researchers. The following chapters are for advanced researchers as they describe the characterization of acidic properties and surface and catalytic properties of different types of solid acid catalysts, examples of the reactions catalyzed by them, and their industrial applications. Although a number of reviews describing solid acid catalysis have been published for advanced researchers, books that comprehensively cover the range from fundamentals to applications of solid acid catalysis, which can be helpful for a wide variety of readers, are not available at present.