The yin and yang in the development of catalytic processes: catalysis research and reaction engineering.

For the implementation of commercial catalytic processes, catalyst development and reactor design and engineering need to go hand-in-hand. As both fields are mutually interdependent, a co-evolution of catalysts and chemical reactors has historically been the right path towards successful, large-scale technologies. Over the 150 years of its existence, the contributions of BASF to the development of several commercial catalytic processes constitute perfect illustrations of this necessary and synergetic interplay between catalyst science and reactor engineering.