A process of catalytically dehydrogenating an alkane to an alkene, using Cr.sub.2O.sub.3 as a catalyst, where the catalyst is oxidized to CrO.sub.3 during the dehydrogenation, and is regenerated by using CO as a reducing gas. In regenerating the catalyst with CO, CO.sub.2 is produced, which may be fed to a dehydrogenation reactor with the alkane and reacted with H.sub.2 produced by the dehydrogenation, to form CO and H.sub.2O by the reverse water-gas shift reaction.

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

In a process for the catalytic alkylation of an olefin with an isoparaffi, an olefin-containing feed is contacted with an isoparaffin-containing feed under alkylation conditions in the presence of a solid acid catalyst comprising a crystalline microporous material of at least one of the MWW and MOR framework types, wherein the solid acid catalyst is substantially free of amorphous alumina.

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.

Disclosed is a catalyst for producing an olefin, the catalyst having an excellent conversion and excellent selectivity, and a method for preparing the catalyst. The catalyst for producing an olefin, according to the present invention, includes: a support including alumina and an auxiliary support component; a main catalyst including an active metal oxide supported on the support; and a co-catalyst including an oxide of an alkali metal and a Group 6B transition metal.

Disclosed is a method of producing an estolide having high structural stability, including: a) preparing a fatty acid mixture from biomass-derived oil; b) separating the fatty acid mixture into a C16 fatty acid and a C18 fatty acid; c) converting the C18 fatty acid into a C18 or C17 linear internal olefin; and d) subjecting the C18 or C17 linear internal olefin and the C16 fatty acid to an estolide reaction, thus obtaining an estolide.

Provided herein are TiO.sub.2-x nanoparticles and materials that show unusual photophysical and optical properties. These TiO.sub.2-x particles and materials can be used as efficient photocatalysts for the reduction of CO.sub.2 with H.sub.2O to produce CH.sub.4. Also provided herein are methods of making TiO.sub.2-x nanoparticles using a polymer-derived mesoporous carbon (PDMC) as a template.

The present invention is a process for dehydrating an alcohol to prepare a corresponding olefin, comprising: (a) providing a composition (A) comprising at least an alcohol having at least 2 carbon atoms, optionally water, optionally an inert component, in a dehydration unit, (b) placing the composition (A) into contact with an acidic catalyst in a reaction zone of said dehydration unit at conditions effective to dehydrate at least a portion of the alcohol to make a corresponding olefin, (c) recovering from said dehydration unit an effluent (B) comprising : at least an olefin, water, undesired by-products including aldehydes and light products, optionally unconverted alcohol(s), optionally the inert component,
wherein, said composition (A)-providing step (a) comprises adding an effective amount of one or more sulfur containing compound capable to reduce the undesired by-products by comparison with a non introduction of such sulfur containing compound.

The component introduced at step (a) can be chosen from the group consisting of thiols, sulfides, disulfides.

The invention is concerned with the oligomerization of supercritical ethene. An essential aspect of the invention is that of mixing ethene with an inert medium and setting the conditions in the reaction such that both ethene and inert medium are supercritical. This is because the solubility for ethene in the inert medium is greater in the supercritical state, such that more ethene is dissolved in the supercritical inert medium than in a liquid solvent. The process regime in the supercritical state therefore enables the use of a much higher proportion of ethene in a homogeneous mixture of ethene and inert medium than is possible on the basis of the thermodynamic solubility restriction in a purely liquid hydrocarbon stream. In this way, the space-time yield is distinctly enhanced. Since a greater amount of ethene can be passed into the reactor, it is possible as a result to better exploit the apparatus volume compared to a liquid phase process. The inert medium used may, for example, be isobutane.

A three step method for the conversion of ethanol into fuels that can be utilized as full-performance military jet or diesel fuels. Embodiments of the invention further describe methods for the selective conversion of ethanol to full performance saturated hydrocarbon fuels that are suitable for both jet and diesel propulsion.