Studies in catalyst deactivation play a major role in the identification of the real catalytic system, in particular, the structure and texture of the solid, which is often in a metastable state, as it is operated in the industrial reactor. These studies also allow the identification of the experimental conditions which preserve this active and selective state. This is crucial for a real understanding of catalysts and catalysis. Another area of catalytic science concerns reactions kinetics, which, if properly determined, are of paramount importance in the elucidation of mechanisms. The behavior of the kinetics during aging and deactivation and an accurate modeling of the evolution of activity and selectivity are essential information for the process performance. These are just two typical examples, but quite generally, the science of catalyst deactivation is going to be more oriented to fundamental issues.

"Reaction Kinetics and the Development and Operation of Catalytic Processes" is a trendsetter. The Keynote Lectures have been authored by top scientists and cover a broad range of topics like fundamental aspects of surface chemistry, in particular dynamics and spillover, the modeling of reaction mechanisms, with special focus on the importance of transient experimentation and the application of kinetics in reactor design.
Fundamental and applied kinetic studies are well represented. More than half of these deal with transient kinetics, a new trend made possible by recent sophisticated experimental equipment and the awareness that transient experimentation provides more information and insight into the microphenomena occurring on the catalyst surface than steady state techniques. The trend is not limited to purely kinetic studies since the great majority of the papers dealing with reactors also focus on transients and even deliberate transient operation. It is to be expected that this trend will continue and amplify as the community becomes more aware of the predictive potential of fundamental kinetics when combined with detailed realistic modeling of the reactor operation.

The symposium "Reaction Kinetics and the Development of Catalytic Processes" is the continuation of the very successful International Symposium "Dynamics of Surfaces and Reaction Kinetics in Heterogeneous Catalysis," held in September 1997 in Antwerp, Belgium. These proceedings contain a unique series of top level plenary lectures mainly focused on

- the dynamics of catalytic surfaces

- the interaction of the reacting molecules with the solid catalyst

- the elementary steps of reaction pathways and molecular kinetics.

Surface science techniques, molecular modeling, transient kinetic studies, sophisticated and specific reactors are included to a growing extent in the kinetic modeling and the development of catalytic processes. How this is practiced today and how it will evolve in the coming years, and what benefit can be expected for a more fundamentally based approach is the aim of the symposium.