Improved alkylation catalysts, alkylation methods, and methods of making alkylation catalysts are described. The alkylation method comprises reaction over a solid acid, zeolite-based catalyst and can be conducted for relatively long periods at steady state conditions. The alkylation catalyst comprises a crystalline zeolite structure, a Si/Al molar ratio of 20 or less, less than 0.5 weight percent alkali metals, and further having a characteristic catalyst life property. Some catalysts may contain rare earth elements in the range of 10 to 35 wt %. One method of making a catalyst includes a calcination step following exchange of the rare earth element(s) conducted at a temperature of at least 575 C. to stabilize the resulting structure followed by an deammoniation treatment. An improved method of deammoniation uses low temperature oxidation.

Described herein are solid acid catalysts and the methods for catalytically preparing ,-unsaturated carboxylic acids and/or esters thereof. In one aspect, a zeolite catalyst may be used. The catalyst may, in certain embodiments, be modified to improve the selectivity and/or conversion of a reaction. For instance, a catalyst may be modified by ion exchange to achieve a desirable acidity profile in order to achieve high level of conversion of reactants and selectivity for desirable products of the catalytic reaction. In another aspect, a variety of feed stocks (e.g., starting compositions) may be used including an -hydroxycarboxylic acid, an -hydroxycarboxylic acid ester, a -hydroxycarboxylic acid, a -hydroxycarboxylic acid ester, cyclic esters thereof (e.g., lactide), and combinations thereof.

A process is provided for removing contaminants from olefin containing C.sub.4 streams. The streams are contacted with an X based zeolite adsorbent comprising greater than 88% X zeolite at a SiO.sub.2/Al.sub.2O.sub.3 ratio of less than 2.5 and an alkali metal salt present in excess of an amount required to achieve full exchange of cation sites on the X based zeolite. The resulting alkali oxide on a volatile free basis is less than 1% (by mass) of the X based adsorbent. The contaminants that are removed include sulfur, oxygenate, and nitrogen based contaminants.

A process for producing a zeolite membrane composite includes a step of obtaining FAU-type seed crystals, a step of depositing the FAU-type seed crystals on a support, a step of forming an AFX-type zeolite membrane on the support by immersing the support in a raw material solution and growing an AFX-type zeolite from the FAU-type seed crystals by hydrothermal synthesis, and a step of removing a structure-directing agent from the AFX-type zeolite membrane. In this way, the AFX-type zeolite membrane can be provided.

This invention describes methods of alkylating isobutane which include a catalytic reaction system comprising a crystalline zeolite catalyst and a rare earth-modified molecular sieve adsorbent (RE-MSA). The crystalline zeolite catalyst comprises sodalite cages and supercages, a Si/Al molar ratio of 20 or less, less than 0.5 weight percent alkali metals; and up to 5 wt % of Pt, Pd and or Ni, and acid-site density (including both Lewis and Bronsted acid sites) of at least 100 mole/gm. The RE-modified molecular sieve adsorbent (Re-MSA) comprising sodalite cages and supercages, a Si/Al molar ratio of 20 or less, less than 1 wt % of alkali metals, RE (rare earth elements) in the range of 10 to 30 wt % and transition metals selected from groups 9-11 in the range from 2 wt % to 10 wt; and acid-site density of no more than 30 mole/gm. The invention also includes methods of making RE-MSA.

Improved alkylation catalysts, alkylation methods, and methods of making alkylation catalysts are described. The alkylation method comprises reaction over a solid acid, zeolite-based catalyst and can be conducted for relatively long periods at steady state conditions. The alkylation catalyst comprises a crystalline zeolite structure, a Si/Al molar ratio of 20 or less, less than 0.5 weight percent alkali metals, and further having a characteristic catalyst life property. Some catalysts may contain rare earth elements in the range of 10 to 35 wt %. One method of making a catalyst includes a calcination step following exchange of the rare earth element(s) conducted at a temperature of at least 575 C. to stabilize the resulting structure followed by an deammoniation treatment. An improved method of deammoniation uses low temperature oxidation.

Provided is a solid acid catalyst which enables the production of isomannide and/or 2,5-sorbitan from mannitol with high yield and high safety at low cost. The mannitol may be derived from a cellulose and/or a hemicellulose. The solid acid catalyst for dehydration contains an acid type -zeolite and/or a Y type zeolite.

A process of making an aromatization catalyst comprising: (a) mixing a zeolite, a binder, and water to form a mixture; (b) extruding the mixture to form a green extrudate; (c) drying the green extrudate to form a dried green extrudate; (d) calcining the dried green extrudate to form a support, wherein calcining the dried green extrudate is the only calcination step in the process; (e) washing the support to form a washed support; (f) drying the washed support to form a dried washed support; (g) impregnating the dried washed support with a Group 8-10 transition metal compound and at least one halide-containing compound to form a metalized-halided material; and (h) vacuum drying the metalized-halided material to form a dried metalized-halided material which is the aromatization catalyst.

Improved alkylation catalysts, alkylation methods, and methods of making alkylation catalysts are described. The alkylation method comprises reaction over a solid acid, zeolite-based catalyst and can be conducted for relatively long periods at steady state conditions. The alkylation catalyst comprises a crystalline zeolite structure, a Si/Al molar ratio of 20 or less, less than 0.5 weight percent alkali metals, and further having a characteristic catalyst life property. Some catalysts may contain rare earth elements in the range of 10 to 35 wt %. One method of making a catalyst includes a calcination step following exchange of the rare earth element(s) conducted at a temperature of at least 575 C. to stabilize the resulting structure followed by an deammoniation treatment. An improved method of deammoniation uses low temperature oxidation.

This invention relates to a hydrogen spillover-based catalyst and use thereof, wherein a hydrogen activation metal cluster is dispersed in the form of being encapsulated in a crystalline or amorphous aluminosilicate matrix which is partially or fully structurally collapsed zeolite, thereby exhibiting high hydroprocessing or dehydrogenation activity and suppressed CC hydrogenolysis activity.