A book review

An inspiring book for the active and stimulating study of catalytic principles and of the up-to-date applications of heterogeneous catalysis

https://contemporarycatalysis.wordpress.com/

https://www.elsevier.com/books/contemporary-catalysis/ross/978-0-444-63474-0

    It is a great pleasure for me to read the much expanded version of Julian Ross’s book. The first version of this book was entitled “Heterogeneous Catalysis: Fundamentals and Applications” and was published in 2011. When it was published, we found the book was designed and written in an inspiring manner. In its eight chapters, each of limited length, the basic concepts of catalysis, kinetics and physics of catalytic reactions and the measurement, of rates and catalyst characterization, were introduced perfectly. The book outlined the theory, together with historical and future perspectives, from the point of the view of a senior scientist who has had a continuous and long career as a professor of chemical technology. The first book also explored links to the literature and highlighted the use of modern search engines. To introduce some important facts and concepts and to reduce the need of page space, the book used pop-up boxes to insert very relevant contents such as mechanisms and the deduction of equations. Combined with the pop-up tasks for homework inserted throughout the text, these effectively facilitate memory and understanding for young colleagues. We found that the book was very valuable when used as the textbook for courses on applied catalysis in engineering schools. We thus organized to translate it into Chinese and the Chinese version was published by Chemical Industry Press in China in 2015. Both the English and Chinese versions have been well accepted by colleagues worldwide. Both the versions are now used as the standard text book in a number of Chinese universities. (Quite a number of Chinese universities are using English text books in parallel to those still using Chinese books.) When I moved to Aalto University in Finland In 2017, I was pleased to find that my colleague here was also using this book as the teaching textbook.

    In the light of my experience with the first book, I was very pleased to learn of the new expanded version: “Contemporary Catalysis: Fundamentals and Current Applications”. Julian has extended the original Chapter 8 into seven separate chapters, each covering an individual topic:“CO₂ and Energy”, “Catalysis in the Production of Energy Carriers from Oil”, “Production of Hydrogen and Syngas from Methane and Some Other Reactions of Methane”, “Catalytic Reactions Involving Syngas, Hydrogen, or Carbon Monoxide for the Production of Intermediates and Chemicals”, “Environmental Catalysis”, “Conversion of Hydrocarbons to Intermediates by Catalytic Hydrogenation and Oxidation Routes” and “Catalysis in Biomass”. In these extended chapters, I have found that the author gives brief but expert views of each topic; he has worked and made important contributions to almost all of these during his active and successful career as a researcher and educator in catalysis.  I have also found significant changes and improvements in the first eight chapters. In the new book, “Catalyst Characterization” and “Mass and Heat Transfer Limitations and Other Aspects of the use of Large-Scale Catalytic Reactors” become independent chapters. Overall, the new book maintains the style of ease of learning of the first book, encouraging the reader to remain active and fresh, and leads its readers to comprehend the practical scenery of catalysis in modern life and industry.

    Although I have become a full professor in a European university, I am determined to  organize the translation of this second book into Chinese. I will use the book in my own teaching and will also definitely recommend it to my young colleagues. I believe that the new edition will be very well accepted by the catalysis community worldwide. My congratulations to Professor Julian Ross for this great and new achievement.