Provided is a catalyst including a metal component including a first component that is rhenium and one or more second components selected from the group consisting of silicon, gallium, germanium, and indium and a carrier on which the metal component is supported, the carrier including an oxide of a metal belonging to Group 4 of the periodic table. Also provided is an alcohol production method in which a carbonyl compound is treated using the above catalyst. It is possible to produce an alcohol by a hydrogenation reaction of a carbonyl compound with high selectivity and high efficiency while reducing side reactions.

A method of making SiC nanowires comprising: (a) mixing silicon powder with a carbon-containing biopolymer and a catalyst at room temperature to form a mixture; and (b) heating said mixture to a pyrolyzing temperature sufficient to react said biopolymer and said silicon power to form SiC nanowires.

A method of making SiC nanowires comprising: (a) mixing silicon powder with a carbon-containing biopolymer and a catalyst at room temperature to form a mixture; and (b) heating said mixture to a pyrolyzing temperature sufficient to react said biopolymer and said silicon power to form SiC nanowires.

Disclosed herein are methods for synthesizing 1,2,5,6-hexanetetrol (HTO), 1,6 hexanediol (HDO) and other reduced polyols from C5 and C6 sugar alcohols or R glycosides. The methods include contacting the sugar alcohol or R-glycoside with a copper catalyst, most desirably a Raney copper catalyst with hydrogen for a time, temperature and pressure sufficient to form reduced polyols having 2 to 3 fewer hydoxy groups than the starting material. When the starting compound is a C6 sugar alcohol such as sorbitol or R-glycoside of a C6 sugar such as methyl glucoside, the predominant product is HTO. The same catalyst can be used to further reduce the HTO to HDO.

Disclosed herein are methods for synthesizing 1,2,5,6-hexanetetrol (HTO), 1,6 hexanediol (HDO) and other reduced polyols from C5 and C6 sugar alcohols or R glycosides. The methods include contacting the sugar alcohol or R-glycoside with a copper catalyst, most desirably a Raney copper catalyst with hydrogen for a time, temperature and pressure sufficient to form reduced polyols having 2 to 3 fewer hydoxy groups than the starting material. When the starting compound is a C6 sugar alcohol such as sorbitol or R-glycoside of a C6 sugar such as methyl glucoside, the predominant product is HTO. The same catalyst can be used to further reduce the HTO to HDO.

A method for preparing 2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyric acid (HMTBA) or 2-hydroxy-4-methylselenobutyric acid (HMSeBA) by catalytic conversion of 2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyronitrile or 2-hydroxy-4-methylselenobutyronitrile, respectively, where said conversion is carried out in the presence of water and at least one weak acid and one catalyst comprising at least one of alumina, titanium dioxide and zirconia.

A method for preparing 2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyric acid (HMTBA) or 2-hydroxy-4-methylselenobutyric acid (HMSeBA) by catalytic conversion of 2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyronitrile or 2-hydroxy-4-methylselenobutyronitrile, respectively, where said conversion is carried out in the presence of water and at least one weak acid and one catalyst comprising at least one of alumina, titanium dioxide and zirconia.

Described herein is a method for preparing acesulfame potassium, comprising: adding triethylamine to a sulfamic acid solution, and carrying out an amination reaction to produce a sulfamic acid ammonium salt solution; adding diketene to the obtained sulfamic acid ammonium salt solution, and under the action of a solid superacid catalyst, carrying out an acylation reaction to obtain an intermediate solution; dissolving sulfur trioxide in a solvent to form a cyclizing agent solution; adding the cyclizing agent solution to the intermediate solution, and carrying out a sulfonation cyclization reaction to obtain a cyclized product solution; adding a hydrolysis agent to the cyclized product solution, and carrying out a hydrolysis reaction to obtain a hydrolysis product solution; and adding a potassium hydroxide solution to the organic phase of the hydrolysis product solution to obtain acesulfame potassium.

Described herein is a method for preparing acesulfame potassium, comprising: adding triethylamine to a sulfamic acid solution, and carrying out an amination reaction to produce a sulfamic acid ammonium salt solution; adding diketene to the obtained sulfamic acid ammonium salt solution, and under the action of a solid superacid catalyst, carrying out an acylation reaction to obtain an intermediate solution; dissolving sulfur trioxide in a solvent to form a cyclizing agent solution; adding the cyclizing agent solution to the intermediate solution, and carrying out a sulfonation cyclization reaction to obtain a cyclized product solution; adding a hydrolysis agent to the cyclized product solution, and carrying out a hydrolysis reaction to obtain a hydrolysis product solution; and adding a potassium hydroxide solution to the organic phase of the hydrolysis product solution to obtain acesulfame potassium.

Pyrolysis processes comprise contacting a waste polyolefin with a solid catalyst at a pyrolysis temperature to form a pyrolysis product containing C.sub.1-C.sub.10 hydrocarbons. In some instances, the solid catalyst can be a silica-coated alumina, a fluorided silica-coated alumina, or a sulfated alumina, while in other instances, the solid catalyst can be any suitable solid oxide or chemically-treated solid oxide that is characterized by a d50 average particle size from 5 to 12 ?m and a particle size span from 0.7 to 1.7. Hydrocarbon compositions are formed from the pyrolysis of waste polyolefins with specific amounts of methane and higher carbon number hydrocarbons.