conc acid is definitely used in esterification process
i think they used phosphoric acid usually for dehydration process, or sometimes it is used as hydration of an alkene, ie add H and OH across a double bond.
nickel is in the same group as Pt and Pd and i can certainly see them being used the same way, i think they use this for hydrogenation too
catalytic converter used mostly the elements from the "catalyst block", some of which you mention above