A process and apparatus for converting an alkane to an olefin. In one embodiment, the process involves oxidative coupling of an alkane, e.g., methane, with an oxidant, such as air, to produce an olefin having twice the number of carbon atoms as the alkane, e.g., ethylene. In another embodiment, the process involves oxidative dehydrogenation of an alkane, e.g., ethane, with an oxidant to form an olefin having the same number of carbon atoms as the alkane, e.g., ethylene. The process involves passing a flow of the oxidant from a first flow passage through a porous medium; diffusing a flow of the alkane from a second flow passage into the porous medium; and contacting the reactant alkane and the oxidant in the presence of a catalyst within the porous medium to produce the olefin.

A methane production system comprises: a reaction tank that produces methane and water by reacting CO and/or CO.sub.2 supplied to the reaction tank with hydrogen; a cleaning tank that is located at an upstream side of the reaction tank in a supply direction of the CO and/or CO.sub.2, and removes water-soluble impurities from a raw material gas including the CO and/or CO.sub.2 and the water-soluble impurities by bringing the raw material gas into contact with water; and a first supply line that supplies the raw material gas from which the water-soluble impurities are removed from the cleaning tank to the reaction tank; and a second supply line supplies water produced in the reaction tank from the reaction tank to the cleaning tank to bring the produced water into contact with the raw material gas in the cleaning tank.

Methods and systems for producing vinyl acetate may use flammability limit (FL) formulas with improved efficiencies at more than one location in the vinyl acetate production process. Herein, FLs can be used at one or more of four portions of the vinyl acetate production process: the reactor, the process-to-process heat exchangers, the carbon dioxide removal system, and the ethylene recovery system. Such FLs are functions of operating conditions and include at least one interaction term that represents the interrelation of two or more of the operating conditions (e.g., temperature, pressure, and component concentration) on the FL.

A catalytic solar reactor useful in chemical processes, more particularly, useful in endothermic chemical processes. The reactor comprises a reaction pathway defined by an exterior wall and an interior wall, the exterior wall comprising a solar radiation receiver capable of converting solar radiation into heat and transmitting the heat to the reaction pathway. Further, the reaction pathway has disposed therein, in alternating fashion, a plurality of catalytic elements and a plurality of heat transfer elements. Optionally, a supplementary heater, such as a conventional fossil fuel burner, is disposed in a plenum located within the interior of the reactor. The heater is employed as a supplemental source of heat, for example, when solar radiation is unavailable.

Ceramic compositions with catalytic activity are provided, along with methods for using such catalytic ceramic compositions. The ceramic compositions correspond to compositions that can acquire increased catalytic activity by cyclic exposure of the ceramic composition to reducing and oxidizing environments at a sufficiently elevated temperature. The ceramic compositions can be beneficial for use as catalysts in reaction environments involving swings of temperature and/or pressure conditions, such as a reverse flow reaction environment. Based on cyclic exposure to oxidizing and reducing conditions, the surface of the ceramic composition can be converted from a substantially fully oxidized state to various states including at least some dopant metal particles supported on a structural oxide surface.

A method and apparatus for: providing a ceria aerogel and copper nanoparticle catalyst, flowing a hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and water vapor source gas from an inlet into contact with the catalyst to produce a product gas, and flowing the product gas to an outlet. The concentration of carbon monoxide in the product gas is no more than 50% of the concentration of carbon monoxide in the source gas. The concentration of hydrogen in the product gas is no less than 90% of the concentration of hydrogen in the source gas.

Provided is a method of producing a silicon compound material, including the steps of: storing a silicon carbide preform in a reaction furnace; supplying a raw material gas containing methyltrichlorosilane to the reaction furnace to infiltrate the preform with silicon carbide; and controlling and reducing a temperature of a gas discharged from the reaction furnace at a predetermined rate to subject the gas to continuous thermal history, to thereby decrease generation of a liquid or solid by-product derived from the gas.

Method and apparatus for compact and easily maintainable waste reformation. Some embodiments include a rotary oven reformer adapted and configured to provide synthesis gas from organic waste. Some embodiments include a rotary oven with simplified operation both as to reformation of the waste, usage of the synthesized gas and other products, and easy removal of the finished waste products, preferably in a unit of compact size for use in austere settings. Yet other embodiments include Fischer-Tropsch reactors of synthesized gas. Some of these reactors include heat exchanging assemblies that provide self-cleaning effects, efficient utilization of waste heat, and ease of cleaning.

The present invention provides materials for improving the ignition of gaseous reactants in metal catalyzed oxidation reactions comprising a metal catalyst gauze, preferably, a platinum/rhodium catalyst gauze, having in contact therewith, from 0.5 to 1.5 wt. %, based on the weight of the metal catalyst gauze, of one or more pieces of previously used metal catalyst gauze. Further, methods of making the metal catalyst materials comprise shaping the pieces of previously used metal catalyst gauze and placing them equidistant from each other in contact with or on the surface of the metal catalyst gauze. And methods of using the materials comprise feeding into the reactor a gas mixture of oxygen or air and one or more reactant gases, and igniting the gas mixture at the surface of one or more or all of the pieces of previously used metal catalyst.

Reactors and methods of using the reactors to produce 1-butene are disclosed. A feed stream comprising n-butane is flowed to a dehydrogenation compartment of a reactor. The dehydrogenation compartment includes a dehydrogenation catalyst for catalyzing the dehydrogenation of n-butane to produce a dehydrogenation compartment effluent comprising 1-butene, 2-butene, isobutene, and/or unreacted n-butane. The dehydrogenation compartment effluent is flowed to a isomerization compartment of the reactor. The isomerization compartment contains a catalyst for isomerizing 2-butene in the dehydrogenation compartment effluent to produce 1-butene. A heating section is disposed between the dehydrogenation compartment and the isomerization compartment to provide heat for the reactions in both compartments.