According to an example aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of producing furan carboxylates from aldaric acids in the presence of a solid heterogeneous catalyst and a solvent with short reaction time. The feedstock for the production is a stable compound, which allows industrial scaling of the process. Solid acid catalyst and sustainable solvent provide considerable reduction of toxic waste compared to traditional methods, and recyclability.

A hydrocracking catalyst having a support of a composite of mesoporous materials, molecular sieves and alumina, is used in the last bed of a multi-bed system for treating heavy crude oils and residues and is designed to increase the production of intermediate distillates having boiling points in a temperature range of 204? C. to 538? C., decrease the production of the heavy fraction (>538? C.), and increase the production of gasoline fraction (<204? C.). The feedstock to be processed in the last bed contains low amounts of metals and is lighter than the feedstock that is fed to the first catalytic bed.

Bimetal-incorporated mesoporous silicate catalysts are provided. In embodiments, such a catalyst comprises a silicate lattice, a first transition metal M, and a second transition metal M, wherein M and M are selected from Zr, Nb, and W and are directly incorporated into the silicate lattice such that M and M replace Si atoms. Methods of using the catalysts are also provided, including in methods for dehydrating alcohols. Methods of making the catalysts are also provided.

Provided is a diesel particulate filter capable of removing soot from an exhaust gas while operating at low backpressure, the filter comprising (a) a wall-flow filter substrate having a mean pore size, an inlet side, an outlet side, and a porous interior between the inlet and outlet sides; and (b) a catalyst composition coated from the inlet side of the substrate, wherein the catalyst composition has a d.sub.50 particle size distribution, wherein the d.sub.50 particle size distribution is less than the mean pore size divided by 4.9, and wherein the outlet side is substantially free of a catalyst coating.

Provided is a diesel particulate filter capable of removing soot from an exhaust gas while operating at low backpressure, the filter comprising (a) a wall-flow filter substrate having a mean pore size, an inlet side, an outlet side, and a porous interior between the inlet and outlet sides; and (b) a catalyst composition coated from the outlet side of the substrate, wherein the catalyst composition has a d.sub.50 particle size distribution, wherein the d.sub.50 particle size distribution is greater than or equal to the mean pore size divided by 4.9, and wherein the inlet side is substantially free of a catalyst coating.

Methods for introducing mesoporosity into zeolite materials that employ an acid pretreatment step are provided. By utilizing a non-acidic chelating agent during the acid treatment step, the zeolite material can be pretreated with a strong acid, often in higher concentrations or over shorter contact times, than had previously been contemplated. The resulting acid-treated mesoporous materials retain desirable properties, including Si/Al, UCS, and total mesopore and micropore volume. The ability to use a stronger acid without damaging the zeolite material results in a less expensive process capable of producing mesoporous zeolite materials suitable for a wide range of uses.

A process is described for the preparation of an inorganic material with a hierarchical porosity in the micropore and mesopore domains. The material has at least two elementary spherical particles having a maximum diameter of 200 microns. The process comprises: a) preparing a solution containing zeolitic nanocrystals with a maximum nanometric dimension equal to 60 nm based on silicon and/or precursor elements of proto-zeolitic entities based on silicon; b) mixing, in solution, metallic particles or at least one metallic precursor of metallic particles, a surfactant and the solution obtained in accordance with a) such that the ratio of the volumes of inorganic and organic materials, V.sub.inorganic/V.sub.organic, is 0.29 to 0.50; c) aerosol atomization of the solution obtained in b) resulting in formation of spherical particles; d) drying the particles; g) eliminating any remaining precursor elements of proto-zeolitic entities based on silicon and the surfactant.

The present invention relates to a full-Si molecular sieve, wherein the full-Si molecular sieve has a Q.sup.4/Q.sup.3 of (10-90):1 wherein Q.sup.4 is the peak strength at the chemical shift of 1122 ppm in the .sup.29Si NMR spectrum of the full-Si molecular sieve, expressed as the peak height relative to the base line; and Q.sup.3 is the peak strength at the chemical shift of 1032 ppm in the .sup.29Si NMR spectrum of the full-Si molecular sieve, expressed as the peak height relative to the base line.

The present invention relates to a catalytic cracking catalyst and a preparation process thereof, the catalytic cracking catalyst has a cracking active component, an optional mesoporous aluminosilicate material, a clay and a binder, wherein said cracking active component comprises, substantially consists of or consists of: a rare earth-containing Y zeolite, an optional other Y zeolite, and an optional MFI-structured zeolite, said rare earth-containing Y zeolite has a rare earth content as rare earth oxide of 10-25 wt %, e.g. 11-23 wt %; a unit cell size of 2.440-2.472 nm, e.g. 2.450-2.470 nm; a crystallinity of 35-65%, e.g. 40-60%; a Si/Al atom ratio in the skeleton of 2.5-5.0; and a product of the ratio of the strength I.sub.1 of the peak at 2=11.80.1 to the strength I.sub.2 of the peak at 2=12.30.1 in the X-ray diffraction spectrogram of the zeolite and the weight percent of rare earth as rare earth oxide in the zeolite of higher than 48, e.g. higher than 55.

A metal complex represented by the following Formula (1): ##STR00001##
(wherein M represents palladium or platinum; L represents a ligand selected from carbon monoxide, an olefin compound, an amine compound, a phosphine compound, an N-heterocyclic carbene compound, a nitrile compound and an isocyanide compound; n represents an integer of 0 to 2 showing the number of the ligand; and each of R.sup.1 to R.sup.4 represents an organic group). The metal complex described above can be fixed on an inorganic oxide while maintaining a skeletal structure thereof to obtain a supported metal complex, which makes it possible to allow the supported metal complex to maintain the same catalytic activity as that of the original metal complex. Also, calcining the supported metal complex obtained in the manner described above makes it possible to obtain a supported metal catalyst improved in catalytic activity to a greater extent than conventional supported metal catalysts.