Abstract: An activated clay for treating aromatic hydrocarbons, containing montmorillonite in an amount of not less than 34% by mass, having an SiO2/Al2O3 mol ratio in a range of 3.8 to 8.0, and desorbing ammonia in an amount in a range of 0.11 to 0.20 mmols/g as measured by the ammonia TPD method with the heat of adsorption in a range of 128 to 148 kJ/mol. The activated clay comprises an acid-treated product of smectite clay, imposes no limitation on the area where the starting clay is produced, and features long catalytic life free of dispersion in the properties.

Abstract: An activated clay for treating aromatic hydrocarbons, containing montmorillonite in an amount of not less than 34% by mass, having an SiO2/Al2O3 mol ratio in a range of 3.8 to 8.0, and desorbing ammonia in an amount in a range of 0.11 to 0.20 mmols/g as measured by the ammonia TPD method with the heat of adsorption in a range of 128 to 148 kJ/mol. The activated clay comprises an acid-treated product of smectite clay, imposes no limitation on the area where the starting clay is produced, and features long catalytic life free of dispersion in the properties.

Abstract: [Problems] To provide a method of purifying interesterified oils, which is capable of efficiently purifying the interesterified oil through a series of steps effectively solving a problem of decreased oxidation stability of the interesterified oil that is purified and a problem of color tone. [Means for Solution] Water is added and mixed into an interesterified oil of animal/vegetable fat and oil in an amount of 0.30 to 5.0 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the interesterified oil, followed by dehydration. Thereafter, a decolorizing treatment is conducted by adding an adsorbent thereto, and filtration is conducted to remove soaps, an alkali catalyst and the adsorbent contained in the interesterified oil.

Abstract: A method of producing riboflavin by culturing riboflavin-producing microbes in a culture medium using a plant oil or an animal oil as a carbon source, forming and accumulating riboflavin therein and collecting riboflavin therefrom, wherein a carrier of a clay mineral having oil-adsorbing property, a chemically treated product thereof or a calcium compound is made present in the culture medium. The riboflavin is produced maintaining a high yield and at an increased production rate at a low cost without requiring cumbersome operations for concentrating and recovering the riboflavin. It is further allowed to recover the riboflavin by effectively utilizing the waste plant oil or the waste animal oil that is to be disposed of.

Abstract: A composite metal polybasic salt containing a trivalent metal, zinc metal and a divalent metal as metal components and having a novel crystal structure, and a method of preparing the same. The invention further deals with a composite metal polybasic salt which has anion-exchanging property, which by itself is useful as an anion-exchanger, capable of introducing anions suited for the use upon anion-exchange, and finds a wide range of applications, and a method of preparing the same. The composite metal polybasic salt has a particular chemical composition and X-ray diffraction peaks, exhibiting peaks at 2&thgr;=2 to 15°, 2&thgr;=19.5 to 24° and 2&thgr;=33 to 50°, and a single peak at 2&thgr;=60 to 64° in the X-ray diffraction (Cu-&agr;).

Abstract: A zinc borate having a particular crystallite size and containing very little sodium components and a method of preparing the same. The zinc borate has a particular chemical composition, has a crystallite size of not smaller than 40 nm as found from diffraction peaks of indexes of planes of (020), (101) and (200) in the X-ray diffraction image (Cu-k&agr;) and contains sodium components in amounts of not larger than 100 ppm as measured by the atomic absorptiometric method.

Abstract: A composite metal polybasic salt containing a trivalent metal and magnesium as metal components and having a novel crystal structure, and a method of preparing the same. The invention further deals with a composite metal polybasic salt which has anion-exchanging property, which by itself is useful as an anion-exchanger, capable of introducing anions suited for the use upon anion-exchange, and finds a wide range of applications, and a method of preparing the same. The composite metal polybasic salt has a particular chemical composition and X-ray diffraction peaks, and further has a degree of orientation (Io) of not smaller than 1.5.

Abstract: An oiliness agent comprising a carboxylate of a composite metal hydroxide having a chemical composition represented by the following general formula (1), M2aM3x(OH)y(A)z.nH2O  (1) wherein, M2 indicates a divalent metal, M3 indicates a trivalent metal, A indicates an anion of an aliphatic carboxylic acid, a, x, y, and z are numbers satisfying the following formulas: a>0, 3x+2a−y−mz=0 (wherein m is a valency of anion A), 0.3≦a/x≦2.5 1.5≦y/(a+x)≦3.0 1.0≦(a+x)/z≦20.0, and n is a number not larger than 7. The oiliness agent exhibits excellent emulsifying properties such as dispersion stability and moisture retaining property without emitting odor and without a tendency of being colored, and is very useful for forming a water-in-oil emulsion which can be effectively used as a base material for cosmetics.

Abstract: Activated regular-shaped clay particles forming macropores therein, preserving fine structure of the dioctahedral smectite clay minerals, and having particle diameters controlled to lie within a range in which they exhibit excellent filtering property. The invention further provides method of producing activated regular-shaped clay particles comprising the steps of adjusting the particle size of the dioctahedral smectite clay minerals to possess a volume-based median diameter (D50) of from 1 to 10 &mgr;m as found by a laser diffraction method, mixing an acid-soluble or acid-decomposing inorganic compound to the milled product thereof, granulating the mixture into regular particles having a volume-based median diameter (D50) of from 10 to 60 &mgr;m as found by a laser diffraction method, and treating the regular-shaped particles with an acid while maintaining the particle shapes.

Abstract: An oiliness agent comprising a carboxylate of a composite metal hydroxide having a chemical composition represented by the following general formula (1),

Abstract: The present invention provides the amorphous silica particles having a double structure of a core of the dense amorphous silica and a shell of the bulky amorphous silica, having a volume-based median diameter of from 1 to 5 .mu.m and containing not more than 10% by volume of fine particles having a particle diameter of not larger than 0.5 .mu.m. The amorphous silica particles of the double structure have constant particle diameters not only in the powdery state but also in a state where they are blended in a coating material or in a resin, without developing fine particles, exhibit excellent delustering action and antiblocking action, exhibit decreased abrading property, and exhibit excellent resistance against scars or abrasion.

Abstract: The present invention provides an activated clay for refining aromatic hydrocarbons such as BTX (benzene, toluene, xylene), etc., satisfying the requirements of both excellent life and excellent side-reaction-preventing property. The activated clay for treating aromatic hydrocarbons is obtained by treating dioctahedral smectite clay minerals with an acid so as to possess a BET specific surface area of not smaller than 250 m.sup.2 /g and to contain iron in an amount of not smaller than 2.5% by weight calculated as Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3.

Abstract: According to this invention, an amorphous or pseudo-boehmite-type hydrated alumina gel and an alkali metal carbonate or bicarbonate as starting materials are reacted in an aqueous medium to give a method of producing a process for producing an alkali aluminum complex hydroxide carbonate salt which is industrially low-cost and has high productivity. Furthermore, by using a gibbsite-type hydrated alumina, a lithium aluminum complex hydroxide carbonate salt can be synthesized by a migration method.The lithium aluminum complex hydroxide carbonate salt and the sodium aluminum complex hydroxide carbonate salt obtained by the processes of the present invention have excellent compoundability in pigments and resins.In addition, these complex salts have no foaming hazards at the time of processing the resins and are useful as resin fillers for halogen capturing property, infrared ray absorbing property and excellent transparency.

Abstract: A method of directly precipitating a spherical amorphous silica in a high yield by adding a carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as a coagulation growing agent in a step of neutralizing the alkali silicate with an acid. The CMC having a particular etherification degree and a particular polymerization degree is added in an amount of from 1 to 100% by weight reckoned as SiO.sub.2 with respect to silica in the alkali silicate, whereby the whole silica particles turn into spherical amorphous silica particles having high sphericalness. There can be obtained spherical amorphous silica particles having a BET specific surface area of from 25 to 800 m.sup.2 /g, an apparent specific gravity of from 0.1 to 0.8 and a particle diameter of from 0.2 to 50 .mu.m cheaply and in a high yield.

Abstract: A regularly-shaped aluminosilicate useful as a blending agent for resins and coating materials, featuring low hygroscopic property, excellent pigment property, being capable of being easily dispersed in resins, and making it easy to carry out the blending operation. The regularly-shaped aluminosilicate comprises regularly-shaped sodium aluminosilicate particles obtained by firing a synthetic A or Pc zeolite, and has a nepheline or carnegieite crystalline structure, and further has an average particle diameter of from 0.5 to 30 .mu.m, an apparent specific gravity of from 0.3 to 0.8 g/cm.sup.3, an amount of oil absorption of not larger than 50 ml/100 g, a refractive index of from 1.46 to 1.56, and an amount of moisture absorption of smaller than 1% at a relative humidity of 90%.

Abstract: An additive for resins, a process for preparing amorphous definite particles used as an inorganic additive, and an olefin resin composition blended with the additive, and an agricultural film blended with the additive and a lithium-aluminum composite hydroxide carbonate. The additive for resins comprises amorphous definite particles having (1) a molar ratio SiO.sub.2 /Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 of from 2.1 to 3.3 on the basis of oxides, (2) an average particle diameter of from 0.3 to 10 .mu.m, (3) a moisture regain at equilibrium (RH90%) of not greater than 10%, (4) a bulk density of from 0.5 to 1.2 g/ml, and (5) a pH in the form of an aqueous suspension of from 6 to 10, said amorphous definite particles being obtained by acid-treating and then heat-treating a Pc zeolite having a spherical particle shape, a notched surface and a molar ratio SiO.sub.2 /Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 of from 2 to 3.

Abstract: A stabilizing agent for beer comprising a particular amorphous silica exhibiting a large negative zeta-potential in the pH region of the beer. The amorphous silica is of the xerogel type and has a specific surface area of from 100 to 600 m.sup.2 /g, a porous volume of 1 to 2 cc/g, and OH groups in a number of not larger than 7/nm.sup.2 on the silica surface, and an aqueous suspension thereof exhibits a pH of from 4 to 6.2 and a zeta-potential of negative polarity, the absolute value thereof being not smaller than 20 mV. When used as a stabilizing agent for beer, the amorphous particulate silica effectively removes the haze since the aqueous suspension thereof exhibits a weakly acidic pH which is close to that of the beer and a large negative zeta-potential, and helps improve froth-holding property and fragrance-retaining property of the beer.

Abstract: An antistatic agent imparting excellent antistatic property to the polyacetal resins and the polyacetal resins using this antistatic agent. The antistatic agent for polyacetal resins is obtained by including polyalkylene polyols or metal salt-dissolved polyalkylene polyols in a basic carbonate of metals consisting chiefly of alkali metals and aluminum having a porous volume of 0.5 cc/g or larger over a region of meso pores to quasi-macro pores of porous radii of from 200 to 1000 angstroms or in an anion exchanger thereof, said porous volume being greater than 30% of the whole porous volume, and a polyacetal resin composition in which said antistatic agent is blended. The antistatic agent of the invention imparts stable antistatic properties to the above resins and is little dependent upon the environment, and further does not lose thermal property or mechanical strength that occurred with the conventional antistatic agents.

Abstract: Disclosed are amorphous silica or silica-alumina spherical particles composed of X-ray diffractometrically substantially amorphous silica or silica-alumina, wherein individual particles have a definite spherical shape and a notched surface, the circularity (A) represented by the following formula: ##EQU1## wherein r1 stands for the radius of the circumcircle of the profile of the particle in an electron microscope photo thereof and r2 stands for the radius of the inscribed circle of the profile of the particle in the electron microscope photo, is in the range of from 0.90 to 1, the notching degree (B) represented by the formula: ##EQU2## wherein .DELTA.t stands for the depth between the peak and trough in the radial direction of notches on the profile of the particle in the electron microscope photo and r1 is as defined above, is in the range of from 1 to 10%, and the primary particle size (2r1) determined by the electron microscope method is in the range of from 0.1 to 20 .mu.m.

Abstract: An antistatic agent imparting excellent antistatic property to the polyacetal resins and the polyacetal resins using this antistatic agent. The antistatic agent for polyacetal resins is obtained by including polyalkylene polyols or metal salt-dissolved polyalkylene polyols in a basic carbonate of metals consisting chiefly of alkali metals and aluminum having a porous volume of 0.5 cc/g or larger over a region of meso pores to quasi-macro pores of porous radii of from 200 to 1000 angstroms or in an anion exchanger thereof, said porous volume being greater than 30% of the whole porous volume, and a polyacetal resin composition in which said antistatic agent is blended. The antistatic agent of the invention imparts stable antistatic properties to the above resins and is little dependent upon the environment, and further does not lose thermal property or mechanical strength that occurred with the conventional antistatic agents.