World Catalyst Market Series----Application Areas

Petroleum refining is the sector with the highest consumption of catalysts. Catalysts with various compositions and properties are used to produce high-quality fuels for transportation such as gasoline, diesel, and kerosene. Common process routes include: fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC), catalytic hydrogenation, hydroprocessing, and hydrogenation for the removal of sulfur, nitrogen, oxygen, and metals. Common catalysts include various molecular sieves such as ZSM-5, which can be used to catalytically crack the molecular chains of heavy oil into light olefins ； NiW, CoMo, and precious metal catalysts can be used in hydrogenation processes to remove sulfur, nitrogen, oxygen, metals, etc., thereby further processing various petroleum products to meet environmental protection requirements.

The field of environmental applications is the sector with the fastest growth in recent years. It mainly includes the production of clean fuels, the treatment of exhaust gases, wastewater, and waste materials, the conversion of nitrogen oxides, the treatment of vehicle exhausts, as well as areas such as solar energy applications, hydrogen production via electrolysis, CO2 reduction, and photocatalysis. The field of polymers is also a field that is developing very rapidly. Its main sources of growth come from the automotive and electronics industries, which are considered to be the most promising economic sectors at present. In addition to the common polyethylene and polypropylene, there are also various new materials such as thermosetting plastics, thermoplastic plastics, and elastomers. Chemical synthesis mainly refers to the downstream industrial chain of the chemical industry, including various small chemicals such as fine chemicals.