Nanocatalysts--Application Impact Analysis

Exciting Opportunities for Nanocatalysts in This New Era of Nanoscience

Catalyzing reactions at the nanoscale can affect a variety of applications in domains such as refining of oil, fuel cells, renewable energy, ground water remediation, catalytic converters, chemical and polymer manufacturing, pharmaceutical and biomedical applications, food processing, paper and pulp recycling, and textile production. Nanocatalyst technology could well be the solution to the many ensuing challenges that range from process efficiencies to breadth of product applications. While established industries such as oil and gas have been slow in integrating nanocatalysts into their processes, new and emerging application in alternative energy and environment are looking to get the technology on board from the early stages of product development. In the petrochemical industry, while most of the innovation is happening in the labs, corporate developments have been relatively few in number. This can be attributed to the fact that most corporate involvement in this field is mature in terms of technology adoption and financial investments that have been made in this field over the past decades.

Incorporating new nanocatalyst technology into the mainstream production would certainly take a few more years to cover the wide range of sub-sectors. Currently, the growing focus is on reducing air and water pollution through stricter regulations and viable alternate energy sources that will boost the uptake of nanocatalyst compounds in the early stages of process design for the emerging technologies. "Employing nanocatalysts is turning into an important norm for industrial chemical processes," say the analysts of this research. "It is becoming clearer that nanocatalysts enable greater efficiency and productivity and therefore can lower production costs." Since catalysis at the nanoscale is efficient, it is anticipated that nanocatalysts could bring in cost reductions of up to 70% in some manufacturing processes. Moreover, nanocatalysts are highly selective and this results in lesser amounts of byproducts. Absence or reduced amounts of byproducts can in turn decrease the cost of recycling and purification in the reaction processes.

Despite several factors propelling the development of nanocatalysts and their adoption in numerous applications, technological challenges that the sector is yet to address include maintaining nanocatalyst stability and activity, agglomeration of nanoparticles, control of the size nanoclusters, and reusability of nanocatalysts. "Since nanotechnology is still in the early stages of development, considerable uncertainty persists in the existing regulations for development of nanomaterials and possibly challenge the growth of the nanacatalyst industry," explain the analysts. "Further, high costs that are typically synonymous with new technologies could also impact nanocatalyst applications." Stringent environmental regulations imposed on oil and gas and chemical manufacturers has also fueled the growth of nanocatalysts in developing a clean and green environment by lessening the emission of toxic gases into the environment, in addition to treating wastewater effluents released from industries. "Growing demand and stringent ecological standards for manufacturing require catalyst with improved efficiency," conclude the analysts. "However, it is necessary to develop eco-friendly green catalysts that can do away with the release of harmful materials and waste by-products of the chemical reactions into surrounding environment."

Market Sectors

Expert Frost & Sullivan analysts thoroughly examine the following market sectors in this research:

By Application:

• Chemical and polymer
• Petrochemicals
• Alternative energy
• Environment
• Pharmaceuticals