The invention relates to a method for preparing a catalyst or catalyst precursor comprising a catalytically active material and a carrier material. The invention relates to a catalyst particle and catalyst precursor thereof obtainable by said method. The catalyst may be used in a process for synthesising hydrocarbons.

This disclosure relates to red mud compositions. This disclosure also relates to methods of making red mud compositions. This disclosure additionally relates to methods of using red mud compositions.

The present invention relates to a calcined shaped alumina and to a method of preparing a calcined shaped alumina. The method comprises that the alumina in the alumina suspension is hydrothermally aged to have a specific crystallite size. This in turn produces a highly stable alumina in the form of a calcined shaped alumina particularly at temperatures of 1200° C. and above.

Methods are provided for formulation of catalysts with improved catalyst exposure lifetimes under oxygenate conversion conditions. In various additional aspects, methods are described for performing oxygenate conversion reactions using such catalysts with improved catalyst exposure lifetimes. The catalyst formulation methods can include formulation of oxygenate conversion catalysts with binders that are selected from binders having a surface area of roughly 250 m.sup.2/g or less, or 200 m.sup.2/g or less. In various aspects, during formulation, a weak base can be added to the zeotype crystals, to the binder material, or to the mixture of the zeotype and the binder. It has been unexpectedly discovered that addition of a weak base, so that the weak base is present in at least one component of the binder mixture prior to formulation, can result in longer catalyst exposure lifetimes under methanol conversion conditions.

The present invention provides microcapsules encapsulating hydrophilic or hydrophobic active agents in an inorganic shell, processes for their preparation and compositions comprising them.

A catalyst, including: a transition metal; and an organic solvent. The transition metal is dispersed in the organic solvent in the form of monodisperse nanoparticles; the transition metal has a grain size of between 1 and 100 nm; and the catalyst has a specific surface area of 5 and 300 m.sup.2/g. The invention also provides a method for preparing a catalyst, including: 1) dissolving an organic salt of a transition metal in an organic solvent including a polyhydric alcohol, to yield a mixture; and 2) heating and stirring the mixture in the presence of air or inert gas, holding the mixture at the temperature of between 150 and 250° C. for between 30 and 240 min, to yield the catalyst.

According to various aspects and embodiments, multilayer particles having an irregular surface architecture and methods of making the same are disclosed.

The present invention is a method of implementing Water Disinfection System employing a Functional Mixture, copper foam catalyst, continuous flow, UV radiation, and optical receiver pipe in order to inactivate broader range of microbial contaminants in drinking water, both for emergency purification kits and larger filtration systems. The Functional Mixture is formed when the portland cement (CaO—SiO.sub.2—Al.sub.2O.sub.3) and silicon dioxide (SiO.sub.2) combination is applied to the amalgamation of porous copper foam (Cu-Foam) and silver nitrate (AgNO.sub.3) particles, which react through the silver tree reaction (Cu+2AgNO.sub.3.fwdarw.2Ag+Cu(NO.sub.3).sub.2) after spraying over a perforated mask. The high porosity Functional Mixture is placed in UV transmissive receiver pipe with optical properties. These configurations improve the coverage, efficiency, and effectiveness of reducing broader range of pathogenic microbes in water disinfection systems over prior art. Further optimizations are available for broader range of solar lighting conditions and water flow rates.

The present invention relates to colloidal dispersions comprising a plurality of precious group nanoparticles, wherein about 90% or more of the precious group metal is in fully reduced form; a dispersion medium comprising a polar solvent; a water-soluble polymer suspension stabilizing agent; and a reducing agent, wherein the nanoparticle concentration is at least about 2 wt. % of the colloidal dispersion, wherein the nanoparticles have an average particle size of about 1 to about 6 nm and at least 95% of the nanoparticles have a particle size within this range; and further wherein the colloidal dispersion is substantially free of halides, alkali metals, alkaline earth metals and sulfur compounds. Methods of preparing, further processing, and using such colloidal dispersions are also provided herein.

A paste for manufacturing a photocatalyst is provided. The paste for manufacturing the photocatalyst includes an alcohol paste and a photocatalyst precursor. The photocatalyst precursor is dispersed in the alcohol paste, and the photocatalyst precursor includes a first metal precursor and a second metal precursor, wherein the first metal in the first metal precursor includes Zn, Sn, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Co or Ag, and the second metal in the second metal precursor includes Fe.