Provided is a method for producing a propylene oligomer, which is advantageous in that a lowly branched propylene oligomer can be obtained at high selectivity. A method for producing a propylene oligomer, including an oligomerization step of oligomerizing propylene at lower than 160° C. in the presence of at least one member selected from a group consisting of a catalyst containing crystalline molecular sieve and a catalyst containing phosphoric acid, a fractional distillation step of obtaining a fraction containing a propylene trimer, a propylene tetramer, or a mixture thereof, and an isomerization step of isomerizing the propylene trimer, propylene tetramer, or mixture thereof contained in the fraction in the presence of a catalyst containing phosphoric acid.

Various processes for the pyrolysis of carbohydrates to prepare products such as glycolaldehyde are described. Also, various catalysts and processes for preparing catalysts useful for carbohydrate pyrolysis are described.

Embodiments include hydrogenating catalysts and methods of making the same. The catalyst includes nanoparticles of a metal phosphide, such as nickel phosphide with a Ni.sub.5P.sub.4 phase. Also included are methods of hydrogenating a gas that contains sulfur. The methods include directing the gas containing sulfur to a catalyst that includes nanoparticles of a metal phosphide, and contacting the catalyst with the gas containing sulfur to produce a hydrogenated gas.

The present invention relates to granulated particles with improved attrition and a method for producing granulated particles by fluidized bed granulation of inorganic particles wherein particles of reduced particle size are fed into a fluldized-bed granulation reactor thereby producing granulated particles with improved attrition.

High surface area, high entropy oxides comprising multiple metal cations in a single-phase fluorite lattice material enables intrinsic catalytic activity without platinum group metals, tunable oxygen storage capacity, and thermal stability. These properties can be obtained through a facile sol-gel synthesis to provide a low-temperature route for production of phase-pure multi-cationic oxides. The resulting materials achieved significantly higher surface area and catalytic performance, taking advantage of all the properties endowed by the various cations in the composition.

Catalyst particles comprising one or more active metal components and methods for manufacturing such catalyst particles are provided. The particles are a composite of a granulating agent or binder material such as an inorganic oxide, and an ultra-stable Y (hereafter “USY”) zeolite in which some of the aluminum atoms in the framework are substituted with zirconium atoms and/or titanium atoms and/or hafnium atoms. The one or more active phase components are incorporated prior to mixing the binder with the post-framework modified USY zeolite, extruding the resulting composite mixture, and forming the catalyst particles. The one or more active phase components are incorporated in the post-framework modified USY zeolite prior to forming the catalyst particles.

A hydrogenation process is disclosed. The process involves reacting a fluoroolefin with H.sub.2 in a reaction zone in the presence of a palladium catalyst to produce a hydrofluoroalkane product, wherein the palladium catalyst comprises palladium supported on a carrier wherein the palladium concentration is from about 0.001 wt % to about 0.2 wt % based on the total weight of the palladium and the carrier. Also disclosed is a palladium catalyst composition consisting essentially of palladium supported on α-Al.sub.2O.sub.3 wherein the palladium concentration is from about 0.001 wt % to about 0.2 wt % based on the total weight of the palladium and the α-Al.sub.2O.sub.3. Also disclosed is a hydrogenation process comprising (a) passing a mixture comprising fluoroolefin and H.sub.2 through a bed of palladium catalyst in a reaction zone wherein the palladium catalyst comprises palladium supported on a carrier; and (b) producing a hydrofluoroalkane product; characterized by: the palladium catalyst in the front of the bed having lower palladium concentration than the palladium catalyst in the back of the bed.

The present invention is directed to unique processes, catalysts and systems for the direct production of liquid fuels (e.g., premium diesel fuel) from synthesis gas produced from natural feedstocks such as natural gas, natural gas liquids, carbon dioxide or other similar compounds or materials. In one aspect, the present invention provides a process for the production of a hydrocarbon mixture comprising the steps of: a) reducing a catalyst in-situ in a fixed bed reactor; b) reacting a feed gas that contains hydrogen and carbon monoxide with the catalyst to produce a hydrocarbon product stream, wherein the hydrocarbon product stream comprises light gases, a diesel fuel and a wax, and wherein the diesel fuel fraction is produced without requiring the hydroprocessing of wax, and wherein the catalyst comprises one or more metals deposited on a gamma alumina support at greater than about 5 weight percent, and wherein platinum or rhenium is included on the support in an amount ranging from about 0.01 weight percent and about 2 weight percent as a promoter, and wherein the catalyst has surface pore diameters between about 100 and 150 Angstroms, sub-surface pore diameters between 10 and 30 Angstroms a crush strength greater than about 3 lbs./mm, a mean effective pellet radius less than about 600 microns, and a BET surface area greater than about 100 m.sup.2/g, and wherein the diesel fuel comprises more than about 70 percent C.sub.8-C.sub.24 hydrocarbons.

Carbon-based single metal atom or bimetallic, trimetallic, or multimetallic alloy transition metal-containing catalysts derived from exoelectrogen bacteria and their methods of making and using thereof are described. The method comprising the steps of: (a) preparing a solution medium comprising at least an electron donor and an electron acceptor comprised of one or more salts of a transition metal; (b) providing exoelectrogen bacterial cells and mixing the exoelectrogen bacterial cells into the solution medium of step (a); (c) incubating the solution medium of step (b); (d) isolating the exoelectrogen bacterial cells from the incubated solution medium of step (c); and (e) pyrolyzing the exoelectrogen bacterial cells resulting in formation of the catalyst. The electron donor can be formate, acetate, or hydrogen.

A method of producing a porous carbon is provided that can change type of functional groups, amount of functional groups, or ratio of functional groups while inhibiting its pore structure from changing. A method of producing a porous carbon includes: a first step of carbonizing a material containing a carbon source and a template source, to prepare a carbonized product; and a second step of immersing the carbonized product into a template removing solution, to remove a template from the carbonized product, and the method is characterized by changing at least two or more of the following conditions: type of the material, ratio of the carbon source and the template source, size of the template, and type of the template removal solution, to thereby control type, amount, or ratio of functional groups that are present in the porous carbon.