A process for the treatment of a light naphtha feedstock that comprises normal paraffins and iso-paraffins may include separating the feedstock into a first iso-paraffin stream and a normal paraffin stream. The separating may be performed with 5A molecular sieves, a pressure of about 1-3 bars, and a temperature of 100-260° C. A product stream may be provided by subjecting the normal paraffin stream to at least one of steam cracking, isomerizing, and aromatizing.

Nanowires useful as heterogeneous catalysts are provided. The nanowire catalysts are useful in a variety of catalytic reactions, for example, the oxidative coupling of methane to C2 hydrocarbons. Related methods for use and manufacture of the same are also disclosed.

The present disclosure provides methods and materials for oligomerization of lower olefins (e.g., C.sub.2-C.sub.8) to transportations fuels including diesel and/or jet fuel. The oligomerization employs, in certain embodiments, tungstated zirconium catalysts. Surprisingly, the oligomerizations proceed smoothly in high yields and exhibit little to no sensitivity to the presence of significant amounts of oxygenates (e.g., water, lower alcohols such as C.sub.2-C.sub.8 alcohols) in the feed stream. Accordingly, the present disclosure is uniquely suited to the production of fuels derived from bio-based alcohols, wherein olefins produced from such bio-based alcohols typically contain high levels of oxygenates.

Catalysts for producing a branched aliphatic alkene are described. The catalyst can include a catalytic alkali metal or alkali metal composite on a mixed metal oxide support that includes a Column 1 metal and at least one of a Column 3 metal, a Column 4 metal or a lanthanide. The catalyst can have less than 50 wt. % of a metal carbonate. Methods of producing branched aliphatic alkenes by contacting the catalyst of the present invention with an aliphatic alpha olefin are also described.

Direct conversion of syngas produces liquid fuels and light olefins. The catalytic reaction is conducted on a fixed bed or a moving bed. The catalyst comprises A and B components. The component A is composed of active metal oxides, and the active ingredients of the component B are zeolites with a MEL structure. The distance between the geometric centers of catalyst A and catalyst B particles is 2 nm-10 mm; a weight ratio of the catalyst A to the catalyst B is 0.1-20. The pressure of the syngas is 0.1-10 MPa; reaction temperature is 300-600° C.; and space velocity is 300-10000 h.sup.−1. The reaction mainly produces gasoline with high octane number, and co-generates light olefins. Meanwhile, the selectivity for a methane byproduct is low (less than 10%).

A process for direct synthesis of light olefins uses syngas as the feed raw material. This catalytic conversion process is conducted in a fixed bed or a moving bed using a composite catalyst containing components A and B (A+B). The active ingredient of catalyst A is metal oxide; and catalyst B is an oxide supported zeolite. A carrier is one or more of Al.sub.2O.sub.3, SiO.sub.2, TiO.sub.2, ZrO.sub.2, CeO.sub.2, MgO and Ga.sub.2O.sub.3 having hierarchical pores; the zeolite is one or more of CHA and AEI structures. The loading of the zeolite is 4%-45% wt. A weight ratio of the active ingredients in the catalyst A and the catalyst B is within a range of 0.1-20, and preferably 0.3-5. The total selectivity of the light olefins comprising ethylene, propylene and butylene can reach 50-90%, while the selectivity of a methane byproduct is less than 15%.

A catalyst for dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons includes a support including zirconium oxide and Linde type L zeolite (L-zeolite). A concentration of the zirconium oxide in the catalyst is in a range of from 0.1 weight percent (wt. %) to 20 wt. %. The catalyst includes from 5 wt. % to 15 wt. % of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal. The catalyst includes from 0.1 wt. % to 10 wt. % of tin. The catalyst includes from 0.1 wt. % to 8 wt. % of a platinum group metal. The alkali metal or alkaline earth metal, tin, and platinum group metal are disposed on the support.

Systems for preparing butenes are provided. The systems can include a reactor inlet coupled to both a reactor and at least one reactant reservoir; at least one of the reactant reservoirs containing one or both of an aldehyde and/or ethanol; a catalyst within the reactor, the catalyst comprising a metal component and an acidic support material; and a reactor outlet operationally configured to convey a butene-rich reaction product to a product reservoir. Methods for preparing butenes are also provided. The methods can include exposing one or both of ethanol and/or an aldehyde to a catalyst comprising a metal component and an acidic support to form a butene-rich product that comprises one or both of 1-butene and/or 2-butene.

According to one or more embodiments described herein, a method for dehydrogenating hydrocarbons may include passing a hydrocarbon feed comprising one or more alkanes or alkyl aromatics into a fluidized bed reactor, contacting the hydrocarbon feed with a dehydrogenation catalyst in the fluidized bed reactor to produce a dehydrogenated product and hydrogen, and contacting the hydrogen with an oxygen-rich oxygen carrier material in the fluidized bed reactor to combust the hydrogen and form an oxygen-diminished oxygen carrier material. In additional embodiments, a dual-purpose material may be utilized which has dehydrogenation catalyst and oxygen carrying functionality.

Provided herein is an alkane dehydrogenation catalyst, a method of manufacturing an alkane dehydrogenation catalyst, and a method of converting alkanes to alkenes.