physical transport effects. The behavior of the catalyst is also a consideration. Particularly in high-temperature petrochemical processes, catalysts are deactivated by processes such as sintering, coking, and poisoning. A common example of a catalytic reactor is the catalytic converter that processes toxic components of automobile exhausts. However, most petrochemical reactors are catalytic, and are responsible for most industrial chemical production, with extremely high-volume examples including sulfuric acid, ammonia, reformate/BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene), and fluid catalytic cracking. Various configurations are possible, see Heterogeneous catalytic reactor. References Chemical reactors External links Chemical reactors