Catalyst Separation

Abstract

Although homogeneous catalysis provides advantages, such as high activity, selectivity and tunability of a catalyst, applications in industry will always require efficient solutions for the intrinsic separation problem. The major drawback results from the difficult recovery and recycling of these expensive and mostly toxic transition metal complexes. Multiple approaches tackle this issue by immobilising homogeneous catalysts. Typically, catalysts can be anchored to suitable supports or immobilised using multiphasic techniques. More elaborate approaches combine size-exclusion filtration with continuous flow catalysis, enabling simultaneous catalyst and product separation through nanofiltration membranes. This chapter will give an overview of these methods and critically discuss their advantages, drawbacks and distinguish between established and more recent achievements.