Heterogeneous Catalysis Before 1934

ROBERT L . BURWELL, JR.

Northwestern University, The Ipatieff Catalytic Laboratory,
Department of Chemistry, Evanston, IL 60201
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This a r t i c l e was prepared as an introduction

Publication Date: June 3, 1983 | doi: 10.1021/bk-1983-0222.ch001

to t h i s symposium. Its aim was to provide a b r i e f

survey of heterogeneous c a t a l y s i s before American
contributions began. It makes no pretence to any
contribution to scholarship (1).
We s h a l l then go back to some s u i t a b l y remote
time i n the past and proceed to the terminal date
rather r a p i d l y . Ingoing back i n time, l e t us, how-
ever, make a stop at 1909. In h i s Nobel Award ad-
dress of that year, Wilhelm Ostwald said: "The
employment of the concept of c a t a l y s i s has served
hitherto as an i n d i c a t i o n of s c i e n t i f i c backward-
ness."
We may hope that t h i s i s no longer true and
presumably Ostwald f e l t that he had made c a t a l y s i s
respectable. But what l e d Ostwald to make t h i s
statement?
During the nineteenth century, a l l kinds of
interpretations of c a t a l y s i s were advanced and most
had a closer r e l a t i o n s h i p with metaphysics than
with science. Here i s a example from Stohmann i n
1894 (2).

"Catalysis is a process involving the

motion of atoms i n molecules of l a b i l e
compounds which r e s u l t s from the presence
of a force emitted by another compound
and which leads to the formation of a
more stable compound and the l i b e r a t i o n
of energy." (Emphasis added).

In the same year Ostwald gave a d e f i n i t i o n

of c a t a l y s i s which looks rather better (3): "Catal-
y s i s i s the acceleration of a slow reaction by the
presence of a foreign m a t e r i a l . "

0097-6156/83/0222-0003$06.00/0
© 1983 American Chemical Society

In Heterogeneous Catalysis; Davis, B., et al.;

ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1983.
 4 HETEROGENEOUS CATALYSIS

Let us now see what l e d to some of the curious

theories of c a t a l y s i s , although we should keep i n
mind that even theories of uncatalyzed reactions
were necessarily very inadequate and sometimes
rather metaphysical.
1
The philosophers stone of the alchemist was
of course a c a t a l y s t and i t was not u n t i l nearly
1800 that chemical theory - the ideas of chemical
elements and the nature of chemical change - made
transmutation suspect. The l i n g e r i n g idea of the
philosophers' stone may have influenced the develop-
ment of the idea of c a t a l y s i s . The following
c l e a r l y describes a c a t a l y t i c experiment although
the text i s unclear as to whether the experiment
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involves homogeneous or heterogeneous catalysis

Publication Date: June 3, 1983 | doi: 10.1021/bk-1983-0222.ch001

(4).

"Paracelsus sent h i s waiting man to

d e l i v e r a piece of paper containing a
small amount of a blood-red powder with
the command that i t be poured into molten
lead and s t i r r e d well.... The master of
the mint paid several thousand guilders
for the r e s u l t i n g gold."

The experiment was not reproducible, but we

have no record that the work was formally withdrawn.
During the eighteenth century various reports
of what we would c a l l transmutations appeared i n
the l i t e r a t u r e . But, i n the absence of the theory
of chemical elements, there was no way to d i s t i n -
guish between what we would now c a l l a chemical
change and a transmutation. Although most educated
people came to believe that most alchemists were
charlatans, there was no s c i e n t i f i c reason why trans-
mutation was impossible and another master of the
mint, S i r Isaac Newton, took i t seriously. But,
i n the nineteenth century, alchemy disappeared from
the s c i e n t i f i c l i t e r a t u r e . The discovery of radio-
active transmutations r e v i v i f i e d "alchemy" f o r a
short period i n the e a r l i e r 1900's and the p h i l o s -
1
ophers stone made i t s l a s t appearance i n the form
of a Pd/asbestos c a t a l y s t .
In the Berichte der Deutschen Chemisches
Gesellshaft f o r 1926 (59B, 2039), the eminent radio-
chemist F r i t z Paneth and K. Peters published a paper
entitled "On the Transmutation (Verwandlung) o f
Hydrogen Into Helium." Paneth had developed a
method f o r the measurement of very small quantities
of helium. In t h i s paper, he reported that 1 g

In Heterogeneous Catalysis; Davis, B., et al.;

ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1983.
 1. BURWELL Heterogeneous Catalysis Before 1934 5

of a 50% Pd/asbestos l e d to the formation of

10-7 cm3 of helium per day. The authors were well
aware of the energetics of the process. Certainly,
this was the most significant heterogeneous
c a t a l y t i c reaction ever to be reported. Unfortu-
nately, the authors had to withdraw the paper very
s h o r t l y a f t e r i t s appearance. Despite the state-
ments of the authors i n the communications with-
drawing the work, my suspicion i s that the helium
c o l l e c t e d had d i f f u s e d through the glass walls of
the apparatus.
In the second h a l f of the eighteenth century
there were various reports of what we would recog-
nize today as c a t a l y t i c reactions. However, the
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idea of a c a t a l y t i c reaction could not have been

Publication Date: June 3, 1983 | doi: 10.1021/bk-1983-0222.ch001

understood before chemical elements and chemical

change had appeared. This e a r l y work i s a h i s t o r -
i c a l c u r i o s i t y which had no influence on the devel-
opment of c a t a l y s i s . The idea of c a t a l y s i s can
be taken as s t a r t i n g i n 1814 when K i r c h o f f published
his work on the hydrolysis of starch to glucose
by acids. A number of people had investigated the
hydrolysis, but Kirchoff was the f i r s t c l e a r l y to
understand what was going on.
The second event i n the development of c a t a l -
y s i s came i n 1817 when S i r Humphry Davy discovered
that the introduction of a hot platinum wire into
a mixture of a i r and coal gas l e d the platinum to
become white hot. Davy considered that there was
oxidation but no flame and that the platinum was
unchanged.
His cousin, Edmund Davy, continued the work
and i n 1820 he discovered that the platinum could
be introduced at room temperature provided that
i t was f i n e l y divided. Dobereiner continued t h i s
work and i n 1823, he found that, i n the presence
of platinum, vapors of ethanol reacted with oxygen
to form a c e t i c acid. Work on s e l e c t i v e oxidation
continues to t h i s day but Dobereiner d i d i t f i r s t .
He also noticed, i n l i n e with the work of Edmund
Davy, that divided platinum became red hot i n the
presence of hydrogen and oxygen. Dobereiner d i d
1
more than notice. He developed Dobereiner s Tinder
Box (Dôbereiners Feuerzeug) (5). This involved
a small Kipp generator containing zinc and d i l u t e
s u l f u r i c acid. When a valve was opened a j e t of
hydrogen emerged, the acid rose into the zinc and
the j e t continued. The j e t f e l l upon spongy p l a t -
inum and burst into flame. One then l i g h t e d h i s
f i r e or h i s pipe. Over a m i l l i o n Tinder Boxes were

In Heterogeneous Catalysis; Davis, B., et al.;

ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1983.
 6 HETEROGENEOUS CATALYSIS

1
sold. Dobereiner s Tinder Box represented the f i r s t
technological a p p l i c a t i o n of heterogeneous c a t a l -
ysis .
In 1824, Henry reported the f i r s t example of
poisoning. Ethylene i n h i b i t e d the reaction between
hydrogen and oxygen on platinum. He also noted
s e l e c t i v e oxidation i n the reaction between oxygen
and a mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and
methane.
Continuing the l i n e of c a t a l y t i c oxidation on
platinum, Peregrine P h i l i p s (1831, B r i t i s h Patent
No. 6096) patented the oxidation of S O 2 to S O 3 on
platinum, but he must have died before the f i r s t
contact process plant f o r the production of s u l f u r i c
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acid went on stream. And f i n a l l y , along t h i s l i n e

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of work, Schweigger i n the same year discovered that

hydrogen s u l f i d e poisoned platinum.
Another l i n e of c a t a l y t i c work was started by
Thenard (1818). He discovered hydrogen peroxide and
he who discovers H 2 O 2 i s apt also to discover i t s
c a t a l y t i c decomposition. Thenard did, and he inves-
t i g a t e d the matter c a r e f u l l y using both homogeneous
and heterogeneous c a t a l y s t s .
Today, someone might possibly write an annual
review of the coordination chemistry of chromium.
But, Baron Jacob Berzelius, the "Mr. Chemistry" of
his day, wrote an annual review of chemistry every
year f o r twenty-eight years. In 1835, he surveyed
K i r c h o f f s work on acid hydrolysis, the c a t a l y t i c
1
oxidations on platinum and Thenard s work on the
decomposition of H 0 . 2 2 He discerned a phenomenon
common to the three areas, and he invented c a t a l y s i s
and c a t a l y s t . Unfortunately, he coined another
term, c a t a l y t i c force (6).
" C a t a l y t i c force a c t u a l l y means that substances
are able to awaken a f f i n i t i e s which are asleep at
t h i s temperature by t h e i r mere presence and not by
t h e i r own a f f i n i t y . " (Emphasis added).
During the rest of the century, much f r u i t l e s s
e f f o r t was devoted to t r y i n g to develop explanations
for c a t a l y t i c force. I t was t h i s that gave c a t a l -
y s i s something of a bad reputation and l e d to
1
Ostwald s unfriendly remark. However, a l l through
the century there were those who advanced chemical
theories of c a t a l y s i s . For example, de l a Rive (7)
i n 1838 proposed that platinum catalyzed the oxida-
t i o n of hydrogen by a cycle of alternate oxidations
of platinum followed by reduction of the surface
oxide. He said:

In Heterogeneous Catalysis; Davis, B., et al.;

ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1983.
 1. BURWELL Heterogeneous Catalysis Before 1934 7

"Ce n'est pas nécessaire de recourir a une

force mystérieuse telle que c e l l e que
Berzelius a admise sous l e nom de force
catalytique. [ I t i s unnecessary to resort
to a mysterious force l i k e that which
Berzelius has proposed under the name,
catalytic force]."

However, believers i n a chemical explanation

were i n the minority up into the twentieth century.
Berzelius d i d not r e f e r to Faraday's paper of
1834 (8), but we should. I t was an excellent study
of the c a t a l y t i c c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of platinum f o i l s
f o r the oxidation of hydrogen: e f f e c t of pretreat-
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ment, rates of reaction i n a p r i m i t i v e fashion,

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deactivation, r e a c t i v a t i o n and poisoning. For exam-

ple, ethylene i n h i b i t e d the reaction of a H 2 + O 2
mixture, but a f t e r some hours vigorous action com-
menced. H 2 S and P H 3 were, however, permanent p o i -
sons . I t would be i n t e r e s t i n g to rewrite Faraday * s
a r t i c l e i n modern form and terminology, to add a few
imaginary experiments with XPS and EXAFS, and to
submit the r e s u l t to J.Catal. I t would not be wise,
however, to i n s e r t Faraday's mechanism i n such a
paper. He thought that hydrogen and oxygen were con-
densed (one might say, physisorbed) on the surface
of the platinum and that reaction to form water
resulted from the mere proximity of H 2 and 0 2 .
"The platinum i s not considered as causing the
combination of any p a r t i c l e s with i t s e l f , but only
by associating them c l o s e l y around i t . "
One cannot f a u l t Faraday f o r not inventing
d i s s o c i a t i v e chemisorption. Hydrogen and oxygen
were not known to be diatomic i n 1834. Anyway,
Faraday d i d not believe i n atoms and assigned such
ideas to metaphysics.
The concept of atoms " d i d not a f f o r d me the
l e a s t help i n my endeavour to form an idea of a
p a r t i c l e of matter...with experience, I outgrew the
idea of atoms.... Such ideas are mere hindrance to
the progress of science (9)."
Following Faraday, there was a long, rather dry
s p e l l i n academic heterogeneous c a t a l y s i s . Most of
the e a r l i e r work involved c a t a l y s i s of oxidations or
the l i k e . The world was not ready f o r the oxidation
of naphthalene to phthalic anhydride - either academ-
i c a l l y or technologically. Organic heterogeneous
c a t a l y s i s remained unexplored f o r many years a f t e r
1834. However, the beginning of the technology of
heterogeneous c a t a l y s i s came i n t h i s period ( s t i l l
oxidations). The Deacon process was developed i n

In Heterogeneous Catalysis; Davis, B., et al.;

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 8 HETEROGENEOUS CATALYSIS

the I860's - the oxidation of hydrogen chloride to

chlorine on copper chloride - and Messel started the
f i r s t plant f o r the oxidation of s u l f u r dioxide to
sulfur trioxide i n 1875, 44 years after the
Peregrine P h i l i p s patent.
Things began to pick up towards the end of the
century. In 1888, Ludwig Mond discovered steam
reforming of hydrocarbons on nickel/pumice to give
carbon monoxide and hydrogen. S i r James Dewar noted
that oxygen adsorbed i n large amounts on charcoal at
the temperature of l i q u i d a i r and that i t desorbed
as such on warming. However, oxygen adsorbed at
250C could be desorbed only at high temperatures and
as oxides of carbon. These observations can be
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taken as the beginning of physisorption and chemi-

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sorption.
The development of thermodynamics l e d to the
recognition that a c a t a l y s t could only promote a
rate i n the d i r e c t i o n of the p o s i t i o n of equilibrium
and that a c a t a l y s t could not change the p o s i t i o n of
equilibrium. Further, s t a r t i n g with Nernst, i t be-
came l i k e l y that one would need to worry about d i f -
f u s i o n a l problems i n heterogeneous c a t a l y s i s .
In 1909, Ostwald was awarded the Nobel Prize i n
chemistry f o r h i s work i n c a t a l y s i s . My suspicion
i s that the committee decided to award him the p r i z e
- he was the "Mr. Physical Chemistry" of h i s day -
and they chose h i s work i n c a t a l y s i s as providing as
good a basis as any other. In f a c t , not much of h i s
career had been devoted to c a t a l y s i s . In 1884, he
reported a study of the acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of
methyl acetate which introduced k i n e t i c s , i n the
modern sense, into c a t a l y s i s . He also t i e d the
concept of c a t a l y t i c a c t i v i t y to rate. Both of
these items were important. Then i n 1901-1904 he
and h i s former student, Brauer, developed the
Ostwald process f o r the oxidation on platinum of
ammonia to n i t r i c oxide. The f i r s t plant went on
stream i n Bochum i n 1906 at a l e v e l of 300 kg of
n i t r i c acid per day. In 1908, the production was
3000 kg per day. The process a c t u a l l y goes back to
Kuhlmann i n 1838, but there had been no i n d u s t r i a l
i n t e r e s t i n such a process, because C h i l i saltpeter
was cheaper source of n i t r i c acid than ammonia. How-
ever, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the
ease with which the B r i t i s h f l e e t could sever the
sea lane between C h i l i and Germany had become a
stimulus to the development of the Ostwald process.
German writers tend to make Ostwald the giant
of c a t a l y s i s as the following quotation (1) from
G.-M. Schwab i l l u s t r a t e s .

In Heterogeneous Catalysis; Davis, B., et al.;

ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1983.
 1. BURWELL Heterogeneous Catalysis Before 1934 9

" I t i s a very wide ranging undertaking to

t a l k on Ostwald's work on c a t a l y s i s . I t
i s s i m i l a r to that which would be involved
i n t a l k i n g on Newton's contributions to
mechanics or Planck's to quantum theory."

I doubt that many French, English, Russian or

American workers would write so strongly. Person-
a l l y , I would put the influence of Sabatier who d i d
not get the Nobel Prize u n t i l three years a f t e r
Ostwald; I p a t i e f f who never got i t , and perhaps
Haber and Mittasch as great or greater.
However, i n the years a f t e r Ostwald, h i s former
students and collaborators dominated c a t a l y s i s i n
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Germany. We can mention Bodenstein who put the

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study of the k i n e t i c s of heterogeneous c a t a l y s i s

e s s e n t i a l l y i n i t s modern state. The Ostwald school
made l i t t l e contribution to mechanism, but i t
adhered to a view s u r p r i s i n g l y close to that of
Faraday. The famous paper of Bodenstein and Fink of
1907 interpreted the k i n e t i c s o f the oxidation of
s u l f u r dioxide on platinum i n terms of the d i f f u s i o n
of s u l f u r dioxide or oxygen through a polymolecular
layer o f adsorbed material. In extreme cases,
accord with the observed i n h i b i t i o n by s u l f u r t r i -
oxide would have required adsorbed layers so t h i c k
that they could have been pared with a razor.
Langmuir's work put a f i n a l quietus to such
ideas, but independently support f o r chemical
theories of c a t a l y s i s came from such workers as
I p a t i e f f and Sabatier. The l a t t e r said i n an a r t i -
c l e written at the end of h i s career (10):

"Like my i l l u s t r i o u s master, M a r c e l l i n
Berthelot, I always assumed that the fund-
amental cause of a l l types of c a t a l y s i s i s
the formation of a temporary and very rap-
i d combination (he meant a chemical combi-
nation) of one of the reactants with a
body c a l l e d the c a t a l y s t . . . . This theory
has been much discussed. Other theories
more or less complex and based on modern
concepts of the atom, have been proposed.
I have tenaciously held to my theory of a
temporary combination. I t has guided my
work both i n hydrogénations and i n dehydra-
tions . "

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 10 HETEROGENEOUS CATALYSIS

He had won the b a t t l e completely, but he was

s t i l l rather defensive.
By 1934, the only remaining trace of c a t a l y t i c
force lay i n the low temperature c a t a l y s i s of the
interconversion of the newly discovered ortho- and
parahydrogen by paramagnetic surface s i t e s .
Starting about 1900, Sabatier (10) and I p a t i e f f
opened up the area of organic heterogeneous c a t a l -
ysis. The impact of Sabatier*s work was more
immediate. Anyone, i n a day or two could set up the
apparatus needed to duplicate Sabatier's discovery
of the hydrogénation of olefins and benzene.
Further, before Sabatier, the conversion of an
alkene to an alkane was an operation of such d i f -
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f i c u l t y and of such low y i e l d that i t was r a r e l y

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c a r r i e d out. Sabatier's discovery created something

of a sensation. Furthermore, i t was r a p i d l y put to
hydrogenating vegetable o i l s to make margarine.
As an a r t i l l e r y o f f i c e r , I p a t i e f f started with
autoclaves and high pressures. His work was not so
r e a d i l y applied i n the usual laboratory. In the
long run, however, I p a t i e f f s work was as influ-
e n t i a l as Sabatier ' s and i t was more important i n
technological applications of c a t a l y s i s to the
modern industries of petroleum r e f i n i n g and the
production of petroleum-based chemicals. Further,
as w i l l have been noticed, c a t a l y s t s before I p a t i e f f
were l a r g e l y Group VIII metals. He introduced
oxides l i k e alumina into the c a t a l y t i c repertory.
Overall, the work of Sabatier and I p a t i e f f l e d to
the development of organic heterogeneous c a t a l y s i s ,
an area which had hardly existed i n the nineteenth
century and which was to provide a powerful stimulus
to heterogeneous c a t a l y s i s both academically, and
industrially.
The work of Haber and Mittasch during the f i r s t
decade of the twentieth century i n developing the
synthesis of ammonia by the hydrogénation of n i t r o -
gen was of major importance although more l i m i t e d i n
scope. The i n d u s t r i a l a p p l i c a t i o n of heterogeneous
c a t a l y s i s was further extended by the development of
the commercial hydrogénation of carbon monoxide to
methanol by the Badische A n i l i n - und Soda-fabrik.
Commercial production started at Merseburg i n 1923
and the plant was producing 10-20 tons of methanol
per day at the end of that year (11). The c a t a l y s t
was not a Group VIII metal (we now know that they
could have used palladium) but ZnO«Cr203.
F i n a l l y , I should note that the e a r l y t h i r t i e s
saw the beginnings of d e t a i l e d mechanistic proposals

In Heterogeneous Catalysis; Davis, B., et al.;

ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1983.
 1. BURWELL Heterogeneous Catalysis Before 1934 11

based on the intermediate compound theory but i n

advance of the rather vague ideas of I p a t i e f f and
Sabatier. The f i r s t two mechanistic proposals i n
the modern sense were the Bonhoeffer-Farkas (12) and
the Horiuti-Polanyi (13) mechanisms. In the
Bonhoeffer-Farkas mechanism (1931), the ortho- para-
hydrogen conversion at high temperatures was assumed
to proceed v i a d i s s o c i a t i v e adsorption o f hydrogen
followed by associative desorption and the mechanism
could be immediately extended to H 2 + E>2 —^ 2HD. The
Horiuti-Polanyi mechanism (1934) f o r the hydrogén-
ation o f ethylene could also be r e a d i l y extended t o
other hydrogénation reactions. Both mechanisms are
s t i l l i n use.
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We have now reached into the period i n which

Publication Date: June 3, 1983 | doi: 10.1021/bk-1983-0222.ch001

American work i n c a t a l y s i s had started and we have

mentioned the European work o f two s c i e n t i s t s whose
work continued i n the United States, V.N. I p a t i e f f
and A. Farkas.
I n d u s t r i a l applications of heterogeneous c a t a l -
y s i s were well underway i n the chemical industry:
The contact process f o r s u l f u r i c acid, the Haber
process f o r the synthesis of ammonia, the BASF
process f o r the synthesis of methanol, the c a t a l y t i c
hydrogénation of vegetable o i l s , and the c a t a l y t i c
water-gas s h i f t process f o r producing the hydrogen
needed i n the preceding processes. The applications
of heterogeneous c a t a l y s i s to the petroleum industry
had hardly begun. That was a development which was
l a r g e l y to occur i n the United States.

Acknowl edgment

This a r t i c l e was written while the author was

enjoying the h o s p i t a l i t y of Prof. J . Fraissard and
the Laboratoire de Chimie des Surfaces of the
Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris.

L i t e r a t u r e Cited

1. The a r t i c l e s on W. Ostwald by G.-M. Schwab,

Z. f ü r Elektrochem. (1953) 25, 878, and by
W. Schirmer, Sitzungsber. Akad. Wiss. DDR,
Math., Naturwiss. Tech. (1979) 33, (13N) were
particularly helpful to the author and he
wishes to thank Professors Schwab and Schirmer
for providing him with copies of t h e i r papers.
Among other secondary sources, the work on
Berzelius by J.E. Jorpes ("Jac. Berzelius, His
L i f e and Work," Uppsala, 1966) and the excel–

In Heterogeneous Catalysis; Davis, B., et al.;

ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1983.
 12 HETEROGENEOUS CATALYSIS

lent a r t i c l e s by W.D. Mogerman i n the Inco

Reporter for 1965 should receive particular
mention.
2. Stohmann, Z. B i o l . (1894), 31, 364.
3. Ostwald, W., Z . physik. Chem. (1894) 15, 705.
4. Schwab, G.-M., "Catalysis", translated by
Taylor, H . S . , and Spence, R., van Nostrand, New
York, NY, (1937).
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Received November 17, 1982

In Heterogeneous Catalysis; Davis, B., et al.;

ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1983.