Soviet Research in
HOMER J. HALL
Lack of consumer
on catalysis has entirely different implicaResearch tions in the U.S.S.R. from those in the United
demand is major
States. I t is of major importance in both countries. It has played a central role in Soviet basic science, representing some 10% of its total scientific literature. T h e Soviet emphasis has been entirely on academic research, on new theories of catalysis and mechanism studies for standard reactions. Very little of this is applied research, or what the U . S. knows as research and development. Catalytic processing is the heart of modern chemical industry. Its success in the West has been a major factor in the growth of industrial research. I n both the U.S.S.R. and in the West, catalytic processes are commonly used as a n index of industrial development. These include the production of high octane gasoline, synthetic elastomers, detergents, and synthetic fibers, which would not exist without catalysis.
drawback t o deve lopmen t of industria’ in U.S.S.R.
Strong in Theory-Weak
in Product Quality
Catalytic research in the U.S.S.R. received a tremendous impetus in the decade just before World War I1 when a series of brilliant theories of catalysis introduced by Balandin, Semenov, Temkin, and others brought favorable attention in the West. This acceptance came a t a time when very little else that the Soviet Union was doing received any credit outside the country. I t helped strengthen the already strong position of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, and these “giants of catalysis’’ held a dominant position in the Academy for the next 30 years. They were good teachers and writers, each followed by a large group of students. T h e academic emphasis was further strengthened a t this time by the fact that another group of Soviet scientists, such as Ipatiev, who were more interested in industrial applications either disappeared or left the country. T h e emphasis on theory appears clearly in the literature on catalysis. Journals such as Kinetik i Katalyz, UsFekhi Khimii, and Doklady are strong on theories and well respected, but there is nothing comparable to them in chemical process research. T h e Soviet journals in industrial chemistry have been much weaker, and more nearly like trade magazines in the West. T h e men who d o practical work do not publish regularly in the top VOL. 6 2
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journals, and they are not recognized as catalyst experts by those who do. Chemical industry in the Soviet Union has been chronically deficient in supplying good catalysts or the pure chemicals required for n e ~ 7catalytic processes, in spite of excellent academic results in catalyst theories and mechanisms. T h e weakness in industrial catalysis is largely due to the characteristics of the Soviet economy-incentives for new process developments are not the same as in the West. Product quality is not a major requirement for consumer goods: Soviet soap made froin wax fatty acids has a poor color and objectionable odor, yet the trend is still to greatly increase its production through a continuation of the same process; gasoline octane numbers are low, but research on how to improve them was de-emphasized when jet-fueled engines cut the demand for high-octane aviation fuel. Chemical markets in the U.S.S.R. are extremely thin, and the lack of consumer demands for better products has been a major drawback to industrial catalysis. Product sale prices do not depend specifically on product quality. As a result, the quality of catalysts and feed stocks is unpredictable and often erratic. I n research, it is unusual to find a discussion of the commercial synthesis of an intermediate carried through to the properties of the final product. Soviet plastics, fibers, or other chemicals seldom compete directly with one another, and the c,heniical markets which support sophisticated catalytic processes in other countries barely have begun to grow. An examination of major process areas in the petroleum and petrochemical industries will serve to illustrate these effects, as of 1967. Most of these processes involve production or refining with a heterogeneous catalyst, a catalyst in bulk on a solid support. Such reactions a t a solid surface have been a primary area of Soviet catalysis research. Poor Catalysts Acceptable
The catalytic cracking of petroleum to produce high octane gasoline is said to be the most important single catalytic process in modern industry, but it is used to only a minor extent in the U.S.S.R. The octane number of their “premium” gasoline is only the equivalent to our ‘
