Process for the preparation of a catalyst and a catalyst comprising the use of more than one silica source is provided herein. Thus, in one embodiment, the invention provides a particulate FCC catalyst comprising about 5 to about 60 wt % one or more zeolites, about 15 to about 35 wt % quasicrystalline boehmite (QCB), about 0 to about 35 wt % microcrystalline boehmite (MCB), greater than about 0 to about 15 wt % silica from sodium stabilized basic colloidal silica, greater than about 0 to about 30 wt % silica from acidic colloidal silica or polysilicic acid, and the balance clay and the process for making the same. This process results in attrition resistant catalysts with a good accessibility.

Processes for conversion of propylene polyol feed into useful petrochemical products, including olefin monomers, are described. Such processes comprise: adding a feed stream comprising one or more propylene polyols, hydrogen, and optionally water, to a catalytic conversion reaction zone in the presence of a first solid acid catalyst component and a hydrogenation catalyst component and reacting at a pressure and temperature sufficient to form a first product stream comprising a propanol component. The first product stream can be added to a dehydration reaction zone in the presence of a dehydration catalyst and reacted at a pressure and temperature sufficient to form a second product stream comprising propylene.

Process for the preparation of a catalyst by adding, clay, boehmite, a first silica to form a slurry, digesting the slurry with a monoprotic acid to a pH of less than 4, adding one or more zeolites, adding a rare earth component to the slurry and mixing, adjusting the slurry pH to below 4 with monoprotic acid, adding a second silica anywhere in the preceding steps, destabilizing the slurry by raising the pH, shaping and collecting the resulting catalyst, wherein the resulting catalyst has enhanced mesoporosity.

The invention provides non-naturally occurring microbial organisms having a butadiene pathway. The invention additionally provides methods of using such organisms to produce butadiene.

The present disclosure provides methods to produce para-xylene, toluene, and other compounds from renewable sources (e.g., cellulose, hemicellulose, starch, sugar) and ethylene in the presence of a catalyst. For example, cellulose and/or hemicellulose may be converted into 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF), which may be converted into para-xylene by cycloaddition of ethylene to DMF. Para-xylene can then be oxidized to form terephthalic acid.

The invention relates to a method for preparing an olefine, a diene or a polyene, by catalytic conversion of at least one alcohol having a carbon chain of at least three carbon atoms and different from propan-2-ol, in the presence of at least one catalyst based of at least one phosphate of a metal or several metals M, M being chosen from among the 15 lanthanides (Lanthanum, Cerium, Praseodymium, Neodymium, Promethium, Samarium, Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Erbium, Thulium, Ytterbium, Lutetium), Yttrium, Scandium and Boron, and the applications of this method.

In one aspect, there is provided a method of coupling an aromatic compound having a fluorosulfonate substituent to an alkyne. In another aspect, there is provided a method of coupling an aromatic compound having a hydroxyl substituent to an alkyne in a one-pot reaction.

The present invention relates to a process for producing olefins, including the step of subjecting an alcohol having not less than 8 and not more than 22 carbon atoms to dehydration reaction in the presence of a solid acid catalyst, in which the solid acid catalyst includes aluminum oxide and an oxide of an element having an electronegativity higher than that of aluminum which is supported on the aluminum oxide.

A method to generate cyclic hydrocarbons from farnesene to increase both the density and net heat of combustion of the product fuels.

The present invention relates to a process for the production of an ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid or ester, preferably ?,? ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acids or esters, by the liquid phase reaction of formaldehyde or a suitable source thereof with a non-cyclic carboxylic acid ester in the presence of a basic metal salt.