This review aims to illustrate the potential of kinetic analysis in general and microkinetic modeling in particular for rational catalyst design. Both ab initio calculations and experiments providing intrinsic kinetic data allow us to assess the effects of catalytic properties and reaction conditions on the activity and selectivity of the targeted reactions. Three complementary approaches for kinetic analysis of complex reaction networks are illustrated, using select examples of acid zeolite-catalyzed reactions from the authors' recent work. Challenges for future research aimed at defining targets for synthesis strategies that enable us to tune zeolite properties are identified.
Keywords: catalyst design; catalytic cracking; ethanol conversion; microkinetics; zeolite acidity.