To develop fuel chemical industry, in the early 1950s, the Third Petroleum Plant began producing molybdenum sulfide-clay, tungsten sulfide-activated carbon, tungsten sulfide-clay, and pure tungsten sulfide and molybdenum sulfide catalysts for shale oil hydrogenation. The Sixth Petroleum Plant began producing cobalt-based catalysts for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, and from 1960 onwards, it produced phosphoric acid-diatomaceous earth catalysts for composite processes. In the early 1960s, China developed its abundant petroleum resources and began industrial production of petroleum refining catalysts. At that time, petroleum catalytic cracking catalysts were first produced at the Lanzhou Refinery, and the Xiaoju Si-Aluminum Catalyst Plant was built and put into operation in 1964. In the 1970s, China began producing rare earth-X-type molecular sieves and rare earth-Y-type molecular sieves. In the late 1970s, the Changling Refinery Catalyst Plant began producing co-colloidal process silica-alumina supported rare earth-Y-type molecular sieves, and later, the Qilu Petrochemical Company Catalyst Plant began producing high bulk density, wear-resistant semi-synthetic rare earth-Y-type molecular sieves. China began developing reforming catalysts in the 1960s. In the mid-1960s, the Third Petroleum Refinery began producing platinum catalysts, and in the 1970s, it successively produced bimetallic platinum-rhenium catalysts and polymetallic reforming catalysts. In hydrorefining, the Third Petroleum Refinery began producing molybdenum-cobalt and molybdenum-nickel reforming pre-hydrogenation catalysts in the 1960s. In the 1970s, it began producing molybdenum-cobalt-nickel low-pressure pre-hydrogenation catalysts, and in the 1980s, it began producing trefoil-shaped hydrorefining catalysts.
To develop the organic chemical industry, from the late 1950s to the early 1960s, China began manufacturing iron-based catalysts for ethylbenzene dehydrogenation, mercuric chloride/activated carbon catalysts for the production of vinyl chloride from acetylene via hydrogen chloride, vanadium oxide catalysts for the oxidation of naphthalene to phthalic anhydride in fluidized beds, and skeletal nickel catalysts for hydrogenation, among others. In the mid-1960s, to meet the needs of China's petrochemical development, the variety of newly produced catalysts increased rapidly. By the 1980s, various selective hydrogenation catalysts for refined olefins were being produced, and the production of microspherical oxide catalysts for propylene ammoniation oxidation, supported metal catalysts for the oxidation of ethylene and acetic acid to vinyl acetate, high-efficiency olefin polymerization catalysts, and honeycomb catalysts for treating industrial waste gases had begun.
Catalysts are widely used in various industries worldwide, and their future development holds immense potential in areas such as scientific research on catalysts, the development and utilization of clean energy, environmental protection and improved economic efficiency, and the governance and protection of the human living environment. In short, human survival and development, including food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, are inseparable from catalysts and their development.
