TRENDS IN THE CHEMICAL-INDUSTRY

The new driving forces for process innovation in the near future are s ummarized. These trends were shown in the catalytically important impa cts on recent process developments: zero-waste, oxidation reactions, o xidation with hydrogen peroxide, the use of renewable raw materials an d in fine-chemical synthesis, especially asymmetric synthesis. In futu re, zero-waste and new raw materials will dominate industrial research . To improve the catalytic reactions, a better understanding of the re action through surface science is necessary to tailor the catalysts. N ew synthetic materials with specific properties as catalyst and/or sup port may help to meet future demand.