There is disclosed a process for producing taurine by subjecting an ammonia solution ammonium isethionate in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst and hydrogen to an ammonolysis reaction to form ammonium taurinate. Taurine is obtained by decomposing ammonium taurinate to taurine and ammonia and recovered by solid-liquid separation.

Implementations of the disclosed subject matter provide methods for producing ethylene glycol from a carbohydrate feed which may include conditioning a heterogeneous hydrogenation catalyst by treatment with a protic acid resulting in an acid-conditioned heterogeneous hydrogenation catalyst. Next, in a reactor under hydrogenation conditions, the carbohydrate feed may be contacted with a bi-functional catalyst system comprising the acid-conditioned heterogeneous hydrogenation catalyst, and a soluble retro-Aldol catalyst. An intermediate product stream may be obtained from the reactor including ethylene glycol.

There is disclosed a process for producing taurine by reacting 2-oxazolidinone with ammonium sulfite, or ammonium bisulfite, or a mixture of ammonium sulfite and ammonium bisulfite in an aqueous solution to form ammonium taurinate and ammonium bicarbonate. Taurine is obtained by decomposing ammonium taurinate to taurine and ammonia and recovered by solid-liquid separation.

There is disclosed a process for producing taurine by subjecting an ammonia solution ammonium isethionate in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst and hydrogen to an ammonolysis reaction to form ammonium taurinate. Taurine is obtained by decomposing ammonium taurinate to taurine and ammonia and recovered by solid-liquid separation.

The present invention relates to a process to prepare a benzimidazole derivative useful as a medicament, an intermediate for preparing the medicament, and a process to prepare the intermediate.

A process for activating a fixed catalyst bed is disclosed. The fixed catalyst bed includes monolithic shaped catalyst bodies or include monolithic shaped catalyst bodies including at a first metal selected from Ni, Fe, Co, Cu, Cr, Pt, Ag, Au and Pd, and a second component selected from Al, Zn and Si. The fixed catalyst bed, for activation, is treated with an aqueous base having a strength of not more than 3.5% by weight. The base is selected from alkali metal hydroxides, alkaline earth metal hydroxides and mixtures thereof. The fixed catalyst bed has a temperature gradient during the activation and the temperature differential between the coldest point in the fixed catalyst bed and the warmest point in the fixed catalyst bed is kept at not more than 50 K.

Described herein is a process for providing a catalytically active fixed bed for hydrogenation of organic compounds, in which a fixed bed including monolithic shaped bodies as catalyst supports or consisting of monolithic shaped bodies is introduced into a reactor and the fixed bed is then contacted with at least one catalyst or a precursor thereof. The fixed beds laden with a catalyst that are obtained in this way are especially suitable for the hydrogenation of organic compounds in the presence of CO, wherein the conversion is at least 90%. They are notable in that only a very small proportion, if any, of the catalyst introduced is released into the reaction medium.

The present invention relates to methods for producing metal-supported thin layer skeletal catalyst structures, to methods for producing catalyst support structures without separately applying an intermediate washcoat layer, and to novel catalyst compositions produced by these methods. Catalyst precursors may be interdiffused with the underlying metal support then activated to create catalytically active skeletal alloy surfaces. The resulting metal-anchored skeletal layers provide increased conversion per geometric area compared to conversions from other types of supported alloy catalysts of similar bulk compositions, and provide resistance to activity loss when used under severe on-stream conditions. Particular compositions of the metal-supported skeletal catalyst alloy structures can be used for conventional steam methane reforming to produce syngas from natural gas and steam, for hydrodeoxygenation of pyrolysis bio-oils, and for other metal-catalyzed reactions inter alia.

The present invention relates to methods for producing metal-supported thin layer skeletal catalyst structures, to methods for producing catalyst support structures without separately applying an intermediate washcoat layer, and to novel catalyst compositions produced by these methods. Catalyst precursors may be interdiffused with the underlying metal support then activated to create catalytically active skeletal alloy surfaces. The resulting metal-anchored skeletal layers provide increased conversion per geometric area compared to conversions from other types of supported alloy catalysts of similar bulk compositions, and provide resistance to activity loss when used under severe on-stream conditions. Particular compositions of the metal-supported skeletal catalyst alloy structures can be used for conventional steam methane reforming to produce syngas from natural gas and steam, for hydrodeoxygenation of pyrolysis bio-oils, and for other metal-catalyzed reactions inter alia.

Implementations of the disclosed subject matter provide a process for producing ethylene glycol from a carbohydrate feed. The process may include contacting, in a reactor under hydrogenation conditions, the carbohydrate feed with a bi-functional catalyst system which may include a heterogeneous hydrogenation catalyst including a magnetically active metal, and a soluble retro-Aldol catalyst including tungstate. A liquid effluent stream may be obtained from the reactor and may include hydrogenation catalyst particles and tungsten oxide precipitate particles. The hydrogenation catalyst particles may be magnetically separated from the tungsten oxide precipitate particles in the liquid effluent stream using a magnet in a separation vessel. The separated hydrogenation catalyst particles may be retained in a separation zone in the separation vessel and may be subsequently removed from the separation zone. A liquid product stream may be obtained from the separation vessel and may include the tungsten oxide precipitate particles and ethylene glycol.