Book excerpt: This long-awaited second edition of the successful introduction to the fundamentals of heterogeneous catalysis is now completely revised and updated. Written by internationally acclaimed experts, this textbook includes fundamentals of adsorption, characterizing catalysts and their surfaces, the significance of pore structure and surface area, solid-state and surface chemistry, poisoning, promotion, deactivation and selectivity of catalysts, as well as catalytic process engineering. A final section provides a number of examples and case histories. With its color and numerous graphics plus references to help readers to easily find further reading, this is a pivotal work for an understanding of the principles involved.