A catalyst includes a support, where the support includes an external surface, about 60 wt % to about 99 wt % silica, and about 1.0 wt % to about 5.0 wt % alumina. A catalytic layer is disposed within the support adjacent to the external surface, where the catalytic layer further includes Pd, Au, and potassium acetate (KOAc). In the catalyst, (a) the KOAc is from about 60 kg/m.sup.3 to about 150 kg/m.sup.3 of the catalyst; or (b) the catalytic layer has an average thickness from about 50 m to about 150 m; or (c) both (a) and (b). The catalyst also possesses a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area of about 130 m.sup.2/g to about 300 m.sup.2/g and a geometric surface area per packed bed volume from about 550 m.sup.2/m.sup.3 to about 1500 m.sup.2/m.sup.3. The catalyst is highly active for the synthesis of vinyl acetate monomer and exhibits a high selectivity for vinyl acetate monomer.

The invention provides a process for preparing liquid fuels and chemicals, which process comprises feeding carbon monoxide and hydrogen to a hydrogenation reactor, wherein the molar ratio CO:H.sub.2 is in the range of 1:0.5 to 1:0.9, catalytically hydrogenating said carbon monoxide in said hydrogenation reactor, condensing the effluent of said hydrogenation reactor to recover one or more organic liquid(s) and an aqueous solution, feeding a non-condensable component of said effluent into an oligomerization reactor; condensing an effluent discharged from the oligomerization reactor to obtain an additional organic liquid and an additional gaseous stream, separating said additional organic liquid, and either combusting said additional gaseous stream to produce heat and electricity, or processing same to obtain recyclable gaseous streams utilizable in said process.

The present invention provides a process for preparing a zeolite by hydrothermal heating of silica precursor and alumina precursor along with a combination of two structure-directing organic templates, N,N-dimethyl formamide and 1,6-diaminohexane in the presence of an alkali. The use of two structure-directing organic templates, not only reduces the crystallization time but also enables the preparation of more catalytically active ZSM-22 of submicron crystallite size. The present invention also provides a process of preparing a noble metal containing zeolite catalyst for hydroisomerization of long chain n-paraffins.

The invention relates to poly oxometalates represented by the formula (A.sub.n).sup.m+{M.sub.s[MM.sub.15X.sub.10O.sub.yR.sub.zH.sub.q]}.sup.m or solvates thereof, corresponding supported polyoxometalates, and processes for their preparation, as well as corresponding metal-clusters, optionally in the form of a dispersion in a liquid carrier medium or immobilized on a solid support, and processes for their preparation, as well as their use in reductive conversion of organic substrate.

A unique process and catalyst is described that operates efficiently for the direct production of a high cetane diesel type fuel or diesel type blending stock from stochiometric mixtures of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. This invention allows for, but is not limited to, the economical and efficient production high quality diesel type fuels from small or distributed fuel production plants that have an annual production capacity of less than 10,000 barrels of product per day, by eliminating traditional wax upgrading processes. This catalytic process is ideal for distributed diesel fuel production plants such as gas to liquids production and other applications that require optimized economics based on supporting distributed feedstock resources.

A process for preparing a molding comprising zinc and a titanium-containing zeolitic material having framework type MWW, comprising (i) providing a molding comprising a titanium-containing zeolitic material having framework type MWW; (ii) preparing an aqueous suspension comprising a zinc source and the molding comprising a titanium-containing zeolitic material having framework type MWW prepared in (i); (iii) heating the aqueous suspension prepared in (ii) under autogenous pressure to a temperature of the liquid phase of the aqueous suspension in the range of from 100 to 200 C., obtaining an aqueous suspension comprising a molding comprising zinc and a titanium-containing zeolitic material having framework type MWW; (iv) separating the molding comprising zinc and a titanium-containing zeolitic material having framework type MWW from the liquid phase of the suspension obtained in (iii).

Catalyst compositions comprising a zeolite and a mesoporous support or binder are disclosed. The mesoporous support or binder comprises a mesoporous metal oxide having a particle diameter of greater than or equal to 20 m at 50% of the cumulative pore size distribution (d50). Also disclosed are processes for producing a mono-alkylated aromatic compound (e.g., ethylbenzene or cumene) which exhibit improved yield of the mono-alkylated aromatic compound using alkylation catalysts comprising one or more of these catalyst compositions.

Methods for removing impurities from a hydrocarbon stream using a guard bed material are disclosed. The guard bed material includes compositions which comprises a zeolite and a mesoporous support or binder. The zeolite has a Constraint Index of less than 3. The mesoporous support or binder comprises a mesoporous metal oxide having a particle diameter of greater than or equal to 20 m at 50% of the cumulative pore size distribution (d.sub.50), a pore volume of less than 1 cc/g, and an alumina content of greater than 75%, by weight. Also disclosed are processes for producing mono-alkylated aromatic compounds (e.g., ethylbenzene or cumene) using impure feed streams that are treated by the disclosed methods to remove impurities which act as catalyst poisons to downstream alkylation and/or transalkylation catalysts.

A method for producing biodiesel using a sulfonated, carbonaceous catalyst produced from rice husk, Moringa seeds, or algae biomass, a method for producing the catalyst, and the catalyst itself.

A composition for exhaust gas purification including first alumina including alumina containing lanthanum and second alumina including alumina containing lanthanum. The first alumina has a higher lanthanum content than the second alumina. The second alumina has a larger particle size than the first alumina. The lanthanum content of the first alumina is preferably 2 to 12 mass %, in terms of oxide, based on the total mass of alumina and lanthanum oxide of the first alumina. The lanthanum content of the second alumina is preferably 9 mass % or less, in terms of oxide, based on the total mass of alumina and lanthanum oxide of the second alumina.