As the world population grows, there is an increasing need to utilize resources more efficiently. This includes developing more environmentally friendly chemical processes. Catalysts play a key role in the chemical industry by increasing the rate of reactions. Developing more efficient catalysts can reduce the production of environmentally harmful by-products and allows more energy efficient processes to be used. More efficient catalysts lower the costs of producing important chemical products. Catalysts are typically divided into two broad classes. Heterogeneous catalysts have a different phase than the reactacts, such as a solid catalyst with gas phase reactants. Homogeneous catalysts have the same phase as the reactants, such as catalyst and reactants in solution phase. Faculty in the CHME Department are using computational modeling and experiments to develop more efficient catalysts for important chemical processes. Explore the research pages of these faculty for more details.