Ethylene glycol is prepared from a carbohydrate source in a process, wherein hydrogen, the carbohydrate source, a liquid diluent and a catalyst system are introduced as reactants into a reaction zone; wherein the catalyst system comprises a tungsten compound and ruthenium as hydrogenolysis metal and further at least one promoter metal, selected from transition and post-transition metals; wherein the carbohydrate source is reacted with hydrogen in the presence of the catalyst system to yield a product mixture comprising ethylene glycol and butylene glycol. Butylene glycol may selectively be removed from the product mixture by azeotropic distillation using an entraining agent.

Methods are provided for modifying hydrogenation catalysts having silica supports (or other non-alumina supports) with additional alumina, and using such catalysts to achieve unexpectedly superior hydrogenation of feedstocks. The modified hydrogenation catalysts can have a relatively low cracking activity while providing an increased activity for hydrogenation.

There are provided a stable HAN-based propellant decomposition catalyst in which the heat resistance is sufficient and the change in HAN-based propellant decomposition activity over time is also small so that a HAN-based propellant having low toxicity can be used for a thruster, and a method for producing the same, and a one-component thruster including a HAN-based propellant decomposition catalyst. A HAN-based propellant decomposition catalyst containing a hexaaluminate type oxide containing a platinum group element, and a method for producing the same, and a one-component thruster including a HAN-based propellant decomposition catalyst are used.

Provided is a material that, when compared with SAPd, exhibits the similar activity in cross-coupling (CC) reactions, can decrease the amount of catalytic metal that is mixed into the reaction product, and increases the number of times use can be repeated. Provided are a catalyst and a catalyst precursor that use a catalytic metal other than Pd and that exhibit the CC reaction activity similar to when Pd is used. Provided are a catalyst and a catalyst precursor that exhibit the similar CC reaction activity when using Pd or a catalytic metal other than Pd, without using a carrier such as metal and without using piranha solution. A composite wherein catalytic metal nanoparticles are dispersed in a continuous phase comprising a polymer having C2-6 alkylene group units and phenylene group units (an alkylene group unit being bonded to at least the first and fourth position of the phenylene group unit). The particle diameter of the catalytic metal nanoparticles is at most 20 nm. A composite structure including a substrate, and the aforementioned composite provided to the surface of the substrate. A method for manufacturing the composite structure by dehydrocondensating, in the presence of a catalytic metal compound, a benzene compound having at least two alkyl groups (two of the alkyl groups being at the first and fourth position) in order to form the composite on the substrate surface.

The invention relates to an oxygen-consuming electrode for use in chlor-alkali electrolysis which, as required, can either evolve hydrogen or can also consume oxygen, on the basis of a silver-based catalyst and an additional electrocatalyst based on ruthenium and/or iridium. The invention further relates to an electrolysis device consisting thereof. When said electrode is used in the chlor-alkali electrolysis, a correspondingly equipped chlor-alkali electrolysis system can be used for example for network stabilization of power supply networks.

A process for the preparation of a catalyst composition for catalysing hydrogenation and hydrogenolysis reactions wherein, (a) a carbon support is contacted with a catalyst precursor solution comprising at least one element from groups 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 of 5 the periodic table to form a metal impregnated carbon; (b) the metal impregnated carbon is dried at a temperature of no greater than 400 C. and placed in a reactor vessel; (c) the reactor vessel is sealed; and (d) the metal impregnated carbon is treated in the reactor 10 vessel in an atmosphere comprising hydrogen at a temperature of from 25 C. to 350 C.

A catalyst for synthesizing hydrogen peroxide is provided. The catalyst includes first material capable of dissociating hydrogen molecules; and second material capable of suppressing dissociation of oxygen molecules, where one or more interfaces are formed between the first material and the second material. The catalyst can be used as an alternative to the expensive palladium catalysts. In particular, the catalyst can be used for the direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide.

A method for preparing a supported noble metal catalyst, comprising: i) melting a noble metal sponge, a peroxide, and a support and/or a support precursor together; ii) dispersing the molten mixture in water; and iii) adjusting the pH to 4 to 10, thereby obtaining a supported noble metal catalyst. The method uses a noble metal sponge rather than an intermediate noble metal precursor, such as a noble metal nitrate salt, a noble metal halide salt, a halogenated noble metal acid, or a salt of the halogenated noble metal acid, for example, H.sub.3IrCl.sub.6, H.sub.2IrCl.sub.6, or IrCl.sub.3. The method does not produce any intermediate product, and does not use any chlorine-containing material, thereby avoiding contamination of the final catalyst by chlorine. The catalyst produced by the present invention has high activity, high surface area, and the RDE OER overpotential is less than 230 mV (at 10 mA cm.sup.2).

An alloy composed of two types of elements, wherein all the standard deviation of distribution in the alloy of each element constituting the alloy are 18 atomic % or less provides a novel alloy composed of three or more types of elements and having a high solid solution uniformity.

Provided are an anode for alkaline water electrolysis that can achieve a low overpotential at low cost, and a method for producing the anode for alkaline water electrolysis.

An anode for alkaline water electrolysis having electrode catalyst layers 2, 3 composed of a first catalyst component having either a nickel-cobalt spinel oxide or a lanthanide-nickel-cobalt perovskite oxide and a second catalyst component having at least one of iridium oxide and ruthenium oxide formed on the surface of a conductive substrate 1 composed of nickel or a nickel-based alloy, and a method for producing the anode for alkaline water electrolysis.