A silica-titania composite aerogel particle includes: a base particle including silicon and titanium whose element ratio Si/Ti is more than 0 and 6 or less; and a surface layer present on the base particle and including a metal compound having a metal atom and a hydrocarbon group. The silica-titania composite aerogel particle has absorption at wavelengths of 450 nm and 750 nm in a visible absorption spectrum, has a BET specific surface area in the range of 200 m.sup.2/g to 1,200 m.sup.2/g, and has a value A in the range of 0.03 to 0.3. The value A is calculated by formula: A=(peak intensity of CO bond+peak intensity of CO bond)/(peak intensity of CC bond+peak intensity of CC bond). The peak intensity is obtained from a C is XPS spectrum.

The invention relates to a catalyst that comprises a mesoporous oxide matrix, with said matrix comprising at least one oxide of an element X that is selected from among silicon and titanium, taken by itself or in a mixture, with said catalyst comprising at least the tantalum element and the niobium element, with the tantalum mass representing between 0.1 to 30% by weight of the mass of the mesoporous oxide matrix, the niobium mass representing between 0.02 to 6% by weight of the mass of the mesoporous oxide matrix, the content by mass of the tantalum element being greater than or equal to the content by mass of the niobium element. The invention also relates to the use of this catalyst in a method for the production of 1,3-butadiene from a feedstock that comprises at least ethanol.

A structure includes a base material; a surface layer that contains a binder resin and a titanium compound particle having absorption at 450 nm and 750 nm in a visible absorption spectrum and a BET specific surface area within a range of 100 m.sup.2/g to 1200 m.sup.2/g.

The invention provides a method for the production of a supported nickel catalyst, in which an aqueous mixture comprising an alkali metal salt plus other metal salts is sintered to form a support material. A supported nickel catalyst comprising potassium -alumina is also provided.

Disclosed herein are base metal catalyst devices for removing ozone, volatile organic compounds, and other pollutants from an air flow stream. A catalyst device includes a housing, a solid substrate disposed within the housing, and a catalyst layer disposed on the substrate. The catalyst layer includes a first base metal catalyst at a first mass percent, a second base metal catalyst at a second mass percent, and a support material impregnated with at least one of the first base metal catalyst or the second base metal catalyst.

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.

Chemical looping reform methods comprising heating an oxygen carrier in the presence of a catalyst and plasma radicals to react the oxygen carrier with a fuel to provide a reduced oxygen carrier; and contacting the reduced oxygen carrier with water or carbon dioxide to produce hydrogen or carbon monoxide, respectively, and regenerate the oxygen carrier. The chemical looping reform methods are carried out at low temperatures such as from 150 C. to 1000 C., preferably from 150 C. to 500 C. Catalyst used in the chemical looping reform methods include a sintered rare earth metal oxide oxygen carrier and perovskite. Methods of preparing the catalyst are also provided.

A composition for in situ remediation of soil and groundwater contaminated with hydrocarbons. The composition includes an adsorbent, such as activated carbon, capable of adsorbing the hydrocarbons. The composition also includes a sulfate-containing compound that releases sulfate over a period of time, e.g., a time-release compound that may include calcium sulfate. The composition includes a nutrient system for promoting growth of facultative anaerobes, in the soil or provided in the composition itself. In some embodiments, the nutrient system includes a sulfide scavenging agent such as iron sulfate. In the same or other embodiments, the nutrient system includes at least one of a nitrogen source and a phosphorous source.

The present invention discloses a novel transition metal(s) catalyst supported on nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon and a process for the preparation of the same. Further, the present invention discloses use of transition metal(s) supported on nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon catalyst in catalytic transfer hydrogenation reaction. The invention also discloses an improved process for the synthesis of 2,5-Dimethylfuran (DMF) and 2-Methylfuran (MF) from 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and furfural respectively, using alcohols as hydrogen donor over a transition metal supported on nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon, especially ruthenium supported on nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon without using any co-catalysts.

Disclosed herein is a fungicide, including: a porous carbon material; and a silver member adhered to the porous carbon material, wherein a value of a specific surface area based on a nitrogen BET, namely Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller method is equal to or larger than 10 m.sup.2/g, and a volume of a fine pore based on a BJH, namely Barrett, Joyner, and Halenda method and an MP, namely Micro Pore method is equal to or larger than 0.1 cm.sup.3/g.