Question

Advantage and disadvantage of heterogeneous catalyst

Answer 1

There are two answers, at least at a simplistic level:

Both offer the advantage, in general, of helping (usually selectively) a reaction to occur more rapidly, without being consumed in the process—this basically is the definition of a chemical catalyst.

More importantly, they have complimentary pros & cons.

Homogeneous catalysts are generally better understood, and are often (with proper ligand design) extraordinarily selective. Their major drawbacks are (often) cost and difficulty in separating them from the product and recovering them for reuse.

Conversely, heterogeneous catalysts are often less well understood, and while they sometimes demonstrate extraordinary selectivity, they are more difficult to ‘design’. However, they are generally more durable and often much easier to separate from products and recover for reuse.

Note that I’m omitting consideration of otherwise homogeneous catalyst species which are deliberately anchored (using chemistry) onto heterogeneous supports. These are hybrids, with the benefits of homogeneous selectivity and heterogeneous separation, at the cost of (possibly) increased complexity (and therefore difficulty in preparing them)