An acid-resistant alloy catalyst, comprising nickel, one or more rare earth element, tin, aluminum and molybdenum. The catalyst is cheap and stable, does not need a carrier, can be stably applied in industrial continuous production, and can lower the production cost.

An acid-resistant alloy catalyst, comprising nickel, one or more rare earth element, tin, aluminum and molybdenum. The catalyst is cheap and stable, does not need a carrier, can be stably applied in industrial continuous production, and can lower the production cost.

A hydrogenation catalyst includes copper oxide, an alkali metal, and an acid-stabilized silica, wherein hydrogenation catalyst has a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (“BET”) surface area of greater than or equal to about 15 m2/g. The hydrogenation catalysts are effective for converting aldehydes, ketones, and esters to alcohols and/or diesters to diols.

A hydrogenation catalyst includes copper oxide, an alkali metal, and an acid-stabilized silica, wherein hydrogenation catalyst has a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (“BET”) surface area of greater than or equal to about 15 m2/g. The hydrogenation catalysts are effective for converting aldehydes, ketones, and esters to alcohols and/or diesters to diols.

The present invention provides a method for selectively producing an alcohol by efficiently hydrogenating a lactone. The present invention is a method for producing an alcohol, the method including hydrogenating a substrate lactone represented by Formula (1), in the presence of a catalyst described below, to produce an alcohol that is represented by Formula (2).

In the formulae, R represents a divalent hydrocarbon group which may have a hydroxyl group.

The catalyst comprises: metal species including M.sub.1 and M.sub.2; and a support supporting the metal species, and wherein M.sub.1 is rhodium, platinum, ruthenium, iridium, or palladium; M.sub.2 is tin, vanadium, molybdenum, tungsten, or rhenium; and the support is hydroxyapatite, fluorapatite, hydrotalcite, or ZrO.sub.2.

##STR00001##

The present invention provides a method for selectively producing an alcohol by efficiently hydrogenating a lactone. The present invention is a method for producing an alcohol, the method including hydrogenating a substrate lactone represented by Formula (1), in the presence of a catalyst described below, to produce an alcohol that is represented by Formula (2).

In the formulae, R represents a divalent hydrocarbon group which may have a hydroxyl group.

The catalyst comprises: metal species including M.sub.1 and M.sub.2; and a support supporting the metal species, and wherein M.sub.1 is rhodium, platinum, ruthenium, iridium, or palladium; M.sub.2 is tin, vanadium, molybdenum, tungsten, or rhenium; and the support is hydroxyapatite, fluorapatite, hydrotalcite, or ZrO.sub.2.

##STR00001##

Provided herein is a novel process for producing shaped catalyst bodies in which a mixture having aluminum contents of Al.sup.±.sup.0 in the range from 80 to 99.8% by weight, based on the mixture used, is used to form a specific intermetallic phase, shaped catalyst bodies obtainable by the process of the invention, a process for producing an active catalyst fixed bed including the shaped catalyst bodies provided herein, the active catalyst fixed beds and also the use of these active catalyst fixed beds for the hydrogenation of organic hydrogenatable compounds or for formate degradation.

The invention provides non-naturally occurring microbial organisms containing a fatty alcohol, fatty aldehyde or fatty acid pathway, wherein the microbial organisms selectively produce a fatty alcohol, fatty aldehyde or fatty acid of a specified length. Also provided are non-naturally occurring microbial organisms having a fatty alcohol, fatty aldehyde or fatty acid pathway, wherein the microbial organisms further include an acetyl-CoA pathway. In some aspects, the microbial organisms of the invention have select gene disruptions or enzyme attenuations that increase production of fatty alcohols, fatty aldehydes or fatty acids. The invention additionally provides methods of using the above microbial organisms to produce a fatty alcohol, a fatty aldehyde or a fatty acid.

The disclosure relates to methods for separating mixtures of polyols, in particular mixtures of two of more different vicinal diols having close boiling points, thus making them difficult or impossible to separate using conventional distillation techniques. The polyol mixture is reacted with an aldehyde or ketone acetalization agent to form one or more acetals as corresponding acetalization reaction products. The acetalization reaction products are more easily separable either from each other (such as via distillation) or from an unreacted vicinal diol (such as via extraction, settling, or other phase separation). After separation, hydrolysis is performed on the acetalization reaction products to recover the vicinal diols as separate, purified components. The methods provide cost-effective processes for separating different polyols originally formed in admixture.

The disclosure relates to methods for separating mixtures of polyols, in particular mixtures of two of more different vicinal diols having close boiling points, thus making them difficult or impossible to separate using conventional distillation techniques. The polyol mixture is reacted with an aldehyde or ketone acetalization agent to form one or more acetals as corresponding acetalization reaction products. The acetalization reaction products are more easily separable either from each other (such as via distillation) or from an unreacted vicinal diol (such as via extraction, settling, or other phase separation). After separation, hydrolysis is performed on the acetalization reaction products to recover the vicinal diols as separate, purified components. The methods provide cost-effective processes for separating different polyols originally formed in admixture.