The present disclosure describes methods and biomimetic catalysts useful for hydrolyzing glucose polymers, such as cellulose, and oligomers, such as cellobiose, to glucose for the subsequent production of ethanol.

In this invention is described: a) the preparation of a new heterogeneous catalyst based on mesoporous silica with variable geometry of pore arrangement, covalently functionalized by an ionic liquid and as a counterion a tungsten polyoxometalate (Keggin acid); b) the application of this catalyst with dual action: Bronsted-Lowry acid and oxidizing agent; and c) its application in chemical reactions is described as: condensation, oxidation, polymerization, and esterification. This type of catalyst offers the following advantages in the chemical industry 1) reusable; 2) promotes different transformations in a single stage, attributed to their acidic and oxidizing characteristics (dual action); and 3) efficiency in the chemical transformations described, which allow to obtain precursors of homogeneous hydroprocessing catalysts, of interest for some projects of transformation of heavy crude oils in situ.

The invention relates to a continuous method for producing formic acid from CO.sub.2 and extracting the formic acid using compressed CO.sub.2.

Disclosed herein are embodiments of a process which generally includes contacting i) a monomer or mixture of monomers, ii) a haloaluminate ionic liquid, and iii) one or more halide components in a reaction zone, and oligomerizing the monomer or mixture of monomers in the reaction zone to form an oligomer product. The combination of the haloaluminate ionic liquid and halide component can constitute a catalyst system which is used in embodiments of the process to produce the oligomer product.

Catalysts that include at least one catalytically active element and one helper catalyst can be used to increase the rate or lower the overpotential of chemical reactions. The helper catalyst can simultaneously act as a director molecule, suppressing undesired reactions and thus increasing selectivity toward the desired reaction. These catalysts can be useful for a variety of chemical reactions including, in particular, the electrochemical conversion of CO.sub.2 or formic acid. The catalysts can also suppress H.sub.2 evolution, permitting electrochemical cell operation at potentials below RHE. Chemical processes and devices using the catalysts are also disclosed, including processes to produce CO, OH.sup., HCO.sup., H.sub.2CO, (HCO.sub.2).sup., H.sub.2CO.sub.2, CH.sub.3OH, CH.sub.4, C.sub.2H.sub.4, CH.sub.3CH.sub.2OH, CH.sub.3COO.sup., CH.sub.3COOH, C.sub.2H.sub.6, O.sub.2, H.sub.2, (COOH).sub.2, or (COO.sup.).sub.2, and a specific device, namely, a CO.sub.2 sensor.

The present disclosure provides a process for regenerating the deactivated ionic compound. The process involves mixing a deactivated ionic compound with at least one solvent such as ethyl acetate and neutralizing with at least one base such as triethylamine and tert-butyl amine to obtain a precipitate. The obtained precipitate is filtered to obtain a residue which is then washed with a solvent such as dichloromethane to obtain the ionic compound.

An electrocatalytic process for carbon dioxide conversion includes combining a Catalytically Active Element and Helper Catalyst in the presence of carbon dioxide, allowing a reaction to proceed to produce a reaction product, and applying electrical energy to said reaction to achieve electrochemical conversion of said reactant to said reaction product. The Catalytically Active Element can be a metal in the form of supported or unsupported particles or flakes with an average size between 0.6 nm and 100 nm. the reaction products comprise at least one of CO, HCO.sup., H.sub.2CO, (HCO.sub.2).sup., H.sub.2CO.sub.2, CH.sub.3OH, CH.sub.4, C.sub.2H.sub.4, CH.sub.3CH.sub.2OH, CH.sub.3COO.sup., CH.sub.3COOH, C.sub.2H.sub.6, (COOH).sub.2, (COO.sup.).sub.2, and CF.sub.3COOH.

Carbon is one of the most common elements in bioactive organic compounds. Theoretically, nearly all carbon-based organic functional groups can be labeled with .sup.11C if an appropriate .sup.11C-synthon is developed and utilized. Although there are various reports on developing PET agents based on alkyl [.sup.11C]nitriles, efficient and facile cyanation of arenes with radioisotope-containing reagents, particularly electron-rich arenes, still requires further improvements. The organic photoredox-catalyzed cyanation method reported herein introduces a [.sup.11C]nitrile quickly with high radiochemical conversion (RCC) in a metal-free manner, which can also be further diversified to other functional groups such as [.sup.11C]carboxylic acids, [.sup.11C]amides, and [.sup.11C]alkyl amines.

An ionic liquid functionalized reduced graphite oxide (IL-RGO)/TiO.sub.2 nanocomposite was synthesized and used to reduce CO.sub.2 to a hydrocarbon in the presence of H.sub.2O vapor.

A sulfur-contaminated ionic liquid catalyst is provided comprising 300 to 20,000 wppm of sulfur from a contaminant, wherein the catalyst is a chloroaluminate and it alkylates olefin and isoparaffin to make an alkylate gasoline blending component having a FBP below 221 C. A process is provided for making the alkylate gasoline blending component, comprising: a. feeding olefin feed comprising greater than 80 wppm of sulfur contaminant to a chloroaluminate ionic liquid catalyst, to make a sulfur-contaminated catalyst; and b. alkylating olefin feed with isoparaffin to make the alkylate gasoline blending component. A method to construct a refinery alkylation unit is provided comprising installing an ionic liquid alkylation reactor having an inlet that feeds a pure coker LPG olefin. An alkylation process exclusively utilizing coker LPG olefins is also provided.