Disclosed are a catalyst for producing, from an alcohol, an olefin whose number of carbon atoms is at least one more than the number of carbon atoms of the alcohol, wherein at least the surface of the catalyst is substantially composed of zirconium oxide; a method for producing an olefin using the same; and so on.

The present invention provides a method for producing a biofuel that allows an animal/vegetable fat/oil raw material containing a free fatty acid to react with a lower alcohol in the presence of a solid acid catalyst, in which the consumption of the lower alcohol is reduced and the free fatty acid and the lower alcohol are selectively esterified to reform the animal/vegetable fat/oil. In this method, as a solid acid catalyst is used a catalyst selected from an SiO.sub.2/Al.sub.2O.sub.3 solid acid catalyst, an SiO.sub.2/Al.sub.2O.sub.3 solid acid catalyst with aluminum being partially introduced into mesoporous silica, an Al.sub.2O.sub.3/B.sub.2O.sub.3 solid acid catalyst, and a sulfated zirconia solid acid catalyst, with a molar ratio of the free fatty acid and the lower alcohol of 1 to 6.

The present invention relates to a method for producing a 3-methylcycloalkenone compound and a method for producing muscone. In the presence of a zirconium oxide catalyst, a diketone represented by the following general formula (1):

##STR00001##

wherein in formula (1), n represents 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12,
is subjected to a vapor-phase intramolecular condensation reaction, whereby a 3-methylcycloalkenone compound can be produced with high reaction efficiency. When a 3-methylcyclopentadecenone compound produced by this method is hydrogenated in a known manner, muscone can be produced efficiently.

Processes are disclosed for the conversion of 1,6-hexanediol to adipic acid employing a chemocatalytic reaction in which 1,6-hexanediol is reacted with oxygen in the presence of particular heterogeneous catalysts including at least one of platinum or gold. The metals are preferably provided on a support selected from the group of titania, stabilized titania, zirconia, stabilized zirconia, silica or mixtures thereof, most preferably zirconia stabilized with tungsten. The reaction with oxygen is carried out at a temperature from about 100° C. to about 300° C. and at a partial pressure of oxygen from about 50 psig to about 2000 psig.

Disclosed are a NOx reducing catalyst including a carrier including a cerium-zirconium composite oxide, and the palladium supported on the carrier. The catalyst includes palladium in an amount of about 1 wt% to about 5 wt% based on the total weight of the catalyst.

The present invention relates to a high-performance polyoxometalate catalyst and a method of preparing the same. More particularly, the present invention provides a high-performance polyoxometalate catalyst, the activity and selectivity of which may be improved by controlling the content of vanadium and the like and which has superior reproducibility and may unsaturated carboxylic acid from unsaturated aldehyde in a high yield for a long time, a method of preparing the same, and the like.

The present disclosure provides an exhaust gas purification material and an exhaust gas purification device that can efficiently remove harmful components even after being exposed to high temperature. Such exhaust gas purification material comprises metal oxide particles and noble metal particles supported on the metal oxide particles. The noble metal particles have a particle size distribution with a mean of 1.5 nm and 18 nm and a standard deviation of less than 1.6 nm.

A highly-dispersed hydrogenation catalyst, a preparation method thereof, and use thereof in the preparation of biofuel from palm oil or other oil are provided. The combination of maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene (MA-PP) and a silane coupling agent (SCA) is introduced into an aluminum oxide composite carrier through organic amidation to obtain a uniformly-dispersed composite carrier with regular pores. Moreover, through a multi-stage impregnation and roasting process, a particle size of an active component is greatly reduced, and the dispersion of the active component and the number of active sites are improved. A hydrogenation catalyst with high hydrothermal stability, high hydrogenation activity, and long life is prepared based on the composite carrier with regular pores and used in the preparation of biofuel from vegetable oil or other oil through hydrodeoxygenation (HDO), which has great industrial application value.

The invention relates to the preparation of a Fischer-Tropsch catalyst support and of a Fischer-Tropsch catalyst. A silica comprising support is subjected to hydrothermal treatment. The hydrothermal treatment results in catalysts having improved C.sub.5+ selectivity as compared with catalysts prepared with a non-treated silica comprising support.

There is provided a method for producing an optionally substituted olefin, comprising the steps of: dehydrogenating an optionally substituted alcohol in a first reaction zone comprising a first catalyst supported on a porous silica-based particle to form an optionally substituted carbonyl at a first set of reaction conditions; converting the optionally substituted alcohol and the optionally substituted carbonyl from the first reaction zone in a second reaction zone at a second set of reaction conditions that is different to the first set of reaction conditions and is selected to form the optionally substituted olefin, wherein the second reaction zone comprises a second catalyst supported on a porous silica-based particle. There is also provided a system for producing the optionally substituted olefin.