Heterogeneous catalysts with optional dopants are provided. The catalysts are useful in a variety of catalytic reactions, for example, the oxidative coupling of methane to C.sub.2+ hydrocarbons. Related methods for use and manufacture of the same are also disclosed.

A process for producing ethylene includes the steps of: (1) catalytically cracking a raw material hydrocarbon to obtain a first stream containing propylene; (2) separating the first stream to obtain a C3 component stream; and (3) disproportionating the C3 component stream to obtain an ethylene stream. This process reduces the overall energy consumption of the production process and increases the total yield of the ethylene while obtaining a polymerization-grade ethylene.

A process is provided for converting mevalonic acid into various useful products and derivatives. More particularly, the process comprises reacting mevalonic acid, or a solution comprising mevalonic acid, in the presence of a solid catalyst at an elevated temperature and pressure to thereby form various biobased products. The process may also comprise: (a) providing a microbial organism that expresses a biosynthetic mevalonic acid pathway; (b) growing the microbial organism in fermentation medium comprising suitable carbon substrates, whereby biobased mevalonic acid is produced; and (c) reacting the biobased mevalonic acid in the presence of a solid catalyst at an elevated temperature and pressure to yield various biobased products.

The present invention relates to a catalyst for dehydration of a primary alcohol, a method of preparing the same, and a method of producing an alpha-olefin using the same. The catalyst for dehydration of a primary alcohol according to the present invention has an excellent catalyst stability while having an excellent activity with respect to dehydration, and a high turnover frequency, such that a linear alpha-olefin with high purity may be produced with a high selectivity even in a case where a relatively small amount of a cocatalyst is added as compared with a homogeneous catalyst system.

Heterogeneous catalysts with optional dopants are provided. The catalysts are useful in a variety of catalytic reactions, for example, the oxidative coupling of methane to C.sub.2+ hydrocarbons. Related methods for use and manufacture of the same are also disclosed.

A process for producing C.sub.2+ hydrocarbons comprising introducing a reactant mixture to an oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) reactor comprising an OCM catalyst composition; wherein the reactant mixture comprises CH.sub.4, O.sub.2, and a chlorine intermediate precursor; wherein the chlorine intermediate precursor is present in the reactant mixture from about 1 ppm to about 100 ppm, based on the total volume of the reactant mixture; allowing the reactant mixture to contact the OCM catalyst composition and react via an OCM reaction to form a product mixture comprising unreacted methane and C.sub.2+ hydrocarbons; wherein the process for producing C.sub.2+ hydrocarbons is characterized by improved performance in the presence of the chlorine intermediate precursor; recovering at least a portion of the product mixture from the OCM reactor; and recovering the C.sub.2+ hydrocarbons from the product mixture. The OCM reactor is operated under autothermal or isothermal conditions.

A method for producing a conjugated diene according to an aspect of the present invention comprises a step of contacting a raw material gas containing an alkane with a dehydrogenation catalyst to obtain a product gas containing at least one unsaturated hydrocarbon selected from the group consisting of an olefin and a conjugated diene. In the production method, the dehydrogenation catalyst is a catalyst having a supported metal containing a Group 14 metal element and Pt supported on a support containing Al and a Group 2 metal element; the dehydrogenation catalyst has pores (a) having a pore diameter of 7 nm or more and 32 nm or less; and a proportion of a pore volume of the pores (a) is 65% or more of the total pore volume of the dehydrogenation catalyst.

Processes for the production of olefins are disclosed, which may include: contacting a hydrocarbon mixture comprising linear butenes with an isomerization catalyst to form an isomerization product comprising 2-butenes and 1-butenes; contacting the isomerization product with a first metathesis catalyst to form a first metathesis product comprising 2-pentene and propylene, as well as any unreacted C.sub.4 olefins, and byproducts ethylene and 3-hexene; and fractionating the first metathesis product to form a C3-fraction and a C5 fraction comprising 2-pentene. The 2-pentene may then be advantageously used to produce high purity 1-butene, 3-hexene, 1-hexene, propylene, or other desired products.

A process for producing ethylene comprising: (a) reacting a reactant mixture in a reactor to yield a product mixture, wherein the reactor comprises a catalyst, wherein the reactant mixture comprises ethane, oxygen, and a chlorine intermediate precursor, wherein the product mixture comprises ethylene, unreacted ethane, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide, wherein the catalyst comprises a redox agent, an alkali metal, and a rare earth element; and (b) recovering at least a portion of the ethylene from the product mixture. The reacting in step (a) further comprises (i) contacting at least a portion of the chlorine intermediate precursor with the catalyst to form a chlorinated catalyst; (ii) allowing at least a portion of the chlorinated catalyst to generate a chlorine intermediate; and (iii) allowing at least a portion of the reactant mixture to react via the chlorine intermediate.

Metal oxide catalysts comprising various dopants are provided. The catalysts are useful as heterogenous catalysts in a variety of catalytic reactions, for example, the oxidative coupling of methane to C2 hydrocarbons such as ethane and ethylene. Related methods for use and manufacture of the same are also disclosed.