SYNTHESIS OF INTERMEDIATE AND FINE CHEMICALS ON HETEROGENEOUS CATALYSTS WITH RESPECT TO ENVIRONMENTAL-PROTECTION

Heterogenous catalysis holds many potentials for replacing the the out dated 'end-of-pipe' strategy by the application of 'reactor or product ion integrated environmental protection'. Three industrially important reactions employing zeolites as heterogenous catalysts demostrate to which extent high product yields are achieved accompanied by a minimiz ed amount of contaminations. This attainment includes the search for o ptimal reaction conditions, as well as the application of an appropria te reactor design. These vital aspects for the realization of industri al processes have to be regarded as a unit instead of investigating ca talyst and process desing separately, which could lead to a substantia l reduction of development costs.