Slide 1
A catalyst speeds a reaction through another pathway
A catalyst speeds a reaction by providing a different pathway. It is regenerated through the catalytic cycle rather than consumed in the overall reaction.
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Regeneration does not mean the catalyst never changes chemically. It can bind reactants, form intermediates and release products, returning to a state that can begin another cycle.
Slide 2
The new route can lower the activation barrier
Reactions face an activation-energy barrier. A catalytic pathway can reduce that barrier, allowing more reacting particles to cross it under the same conditions.
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The catalyst does not simply add energy to every molecule. It changes the sequence of molecular events, often by stabilizing a transition arrangement or bringing reacting groups into a favourable relationship.
Slide 3
It can also favour one product over another
A useful catalyst can favour one product pathway over competing reactions. Faster conversion is not the only valuable outcome.
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Industrial processes must separate desired products from byproducts. Improving selectivity can reduce separation work and waste even when the total reaction rate changes only modestly.
Slide 4
Faster progress does not move equilibrium
A catalyst accelerates the approach to equilibrium without changing the equilibrium composition at fixed conditions. It affects forward and reverse pathways consistently.
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A reaction that is thermodynamically unfavourable does not become favourable merely because a catalyst is present. Temperature, pressure, coupling or product removal may be needed to change what outcome is attainable.
Slide 5
Real catalysts can still become blocked or damaged
Catalysts may become blocked, poisoned or structurally altered during use. Not being consumed in the ideal equation does not make a material immortal.
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On a solid catalyst, active surface sites may be covered by strongly bound impurities. Regeneration or replacement then becomes part of process design, alongside the initial choice of catalytic material.
Sources
- DOE Explains: Catalysts
US Department of Energy
- A Catalyst and the Rate of Reaction
American Chemical Society