Paraffin compositions including mainly even carbon number paraffins, and a method for manufacturing the same, is disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the method involves contacting naturally occurring fatty acid/glycerides with hydrogen in a slurry bubble column reactor containing bimetallic catalysts with equivalent particle diameters from about 10 to about 400 micron. The even carbon number compositions are particularly useful as phase change material.

The invention relates to a process for the production of 1,3-butadiene from a feed comprising ethanol and acetaldehyde in the presence of a supported tantalum catalyst obtainable by aqueous impregnation of the support with a water-soluble tantalum precursor. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a process for the production of a supported tantalum catalyst, and the supported tantalum catalyst. Finally, the invention relates to the use of the supported tantalum catalyst for the production of 1,3-butadiene from a feed comprising ethanol and acetaldehyde to increase one or both of selectivity and yield of the reaction.

Disclosed herein are embodiments of a method and system for converting ethanol to para-xylene. The method also provides a pathway to produce terephthalic acid from biomass-based feedstocks. In some embodiments, the disclosed method produces p-xylene with high selectivity over other aromatics typically produced in the conversion of ethanol to xylenes, such as m-xylene, ethyl benzene, benzene, toluene, and the like. And, in some embodiments, the method facilitates the ability to use ortho/para mixtures of methylbenzyaldehyde for preparing ortho/para xylene product mixtures that are amendable to fractionation to separate the para- and ortho-xylene products thereby providing a pure feedstock of para-xylene that can be used to form terephthalic anhydride and a pure feedstock of ortho-xylene that can be used for other purposes, such as phthalic anhydride.

A process to produce 1-octene and 1-decene includes (a) separating a composition containing an oligomer product—which contains from 15 to 80 mol % C.sub.6 olefins, from 20 to 80 mol % C.sub.8 olefins, and from 5 to 20 mol % C.sub.10+ olefins—into a first oligomer composition containing C.sub.6 alkanes and at least 85 mol % C.sub.6 olefins (e.g., 1-hexene), a second oligomer composition containing at least 85 mol % C.sub.8 olefins (e.g., 1-octene), and a heavies stream containing C.sub.10+ olefins, then (b) contacting a metathesis catalyst system with the first oligomer composition to form a first composition comprising C.sub.10 linear internal olefins, (c) contacting the C.sub.10 linear internal olefins with an isomerization hydrofunctionalization catalyst system to form a second composition containing a functionalized alkane, (d) retro-hydrofunctionalizing the functionalized alkane to form a third composition containing 1-decene, and (e) purifying the third composition to isolate a fourth composition containing at least 90 mol % 1-decene. Processes to produce 1-hexene and 1-decene also are described, as well as related manufacturing systems.

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.

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.

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.

A process to produce 1-octene and 1-decene includes (a) separating a composition containing an oligomer product—which contains 15 to 80 mol % C.sub.6 olefins, 20 to 80 mol % C.sub.8 olefins, and 5 to 20 mol % C.sub.10+ olefins—into a first oligomer composition containing C.sub.6 alkanes and at least 85 mol % C.sub.6 olefins (e.g., 1-hexene), a second oligomer composition containing at least 20 mol % C.sub.8 olefins (e.g., 1-octene), and a heavies stream containing C.sub.10+ olefins, then (b) contacting a metathesis catalyst system with the first oligomer composition to form a first composition comprising C.sub.10 linear internal olefins, (c) contacting the C.sub.10 linear internal olefins with a catalytic isomerization catalyst system in the presence of photochemical irradiation to form a second composition comprising 1-decene, and (d) purifying the second composition to isolate a third composition comprising at least 90 mol % 1-decene. Processes to produce 1-hexene and 1-decene also are described, as well as related manufacturing systems and processes to produce higher carbon number normal alpha olefins from lower carbon number normal alpha olefins.

A process to produce 1-octene and 1-decene includes (a) separating a composition containing an oligomer product—which contains 15 to 80 mol % C.sub.6 olefins, 20 to 80 mol % C.sub.8 olefins, and 5 to 20 mol % C.sub.10+ olefins—into a first oligomer composition containing C.sub.6 alkanes and at least 85 mol % C.sub.6 olefins (e.g., 1-hexene), a second oligomer composition containing at least 20 mol % C.sub.8 olefins (e.g., 1-octene), and a heavies stream containing C.sub.10+ olefins, then (b) contacting a metathesis catalyst system with the first oligomer composition to form a first composition comprising C.sub.10 linear internal olefins, (c) contacting the C.sub.10 linear internal olefins with a catalytic isomerization catalyst system in the presence of photochemical irradiation to form a second composition comprising 1-decene, and (d) purifying the second composition to isolate a third composition comprising at least 90 mol % 1-decene. Processes to produce 1-hexene and 1-decene also are described, as well as related manufacturing systems and processes to produce higher carbon number normal alpha olefins from lower carbon number normal alpha olefins.

The invention provides a method for producing sheet-like particles of zeolite that cannot be obtained by a top-down method, and provides sheet-like particles of zeolite having an 8-membered oxygen ring structure obtained by the method. A thickness of the sheet-like particles is 1 nm to 100 nm, and an aspect ratio (maximum width/thickness in particles) of the sheet-like particles is 100 or more.