Abstract: Unsaturated hydrocarbons may be prepared by subjecting dehydrogenatable hydrocarbon to dehydrogenation in the presence of a dehydrogenation catalyst. The effluent stream from this step, comprising unconverted hydrocarbons, dehydrogenated hydrocarbons, hydrogen and steam, may then be passed to a selective oxidation step in which the hydrogen is selectively oxidized in the presence of an oxygen-containing gas to the substantial exclusion of the oxidation of the hydrocarbons. The oxidation catalyst which is employed will comprise a Group VIII noble metal, a Group IVA metal and a Group IA or IIA metal composited on a metal oxide support. The metal oxide support such as alumina will possess a particular configuration such as a polylobular particle containing from 3 to about 8 lobes and having a ratio of exterior surface to catalyst volume greater than [4D+2L] in which D is the largest representative diameter and L is the length of the particle.

Abstract: A process for producing butadiene which comprises (1) a reaction step of forming butadiene by gas-phase catalytic oxidative dehydrogenation of n-butene, (2) a cooling step of cooling the resulting gas discharged from the reaction step (1) to remove trace amounts of high boiling by-products contained in the resulting gas, (3) an aldehyde removal step of removing small amounts of aldehydes contained in the cooled gas discharged from the cooling step (2), (4) a compression step of compressing the gas discharged from the aldehyde removal step (3), and (5) a C.sub.4 component recovery step of recovering a C.sub.4 component containing butadiene and other C.sub.4 hydrocarbons from the compressed gas discharged from the compression step (4).

Abstract: High surface area oxidative dehydrogenation catalysts which are suitable for converting C.sub.4 to C.sub.8 mono-olefins to diolefins are disclosed, comprising the oxides of an alkali metal, vanadium, phosphorus, and preferably tin in combination with a crystalline silica having a surface area between 30 M.sup.2 /g to 450 M.sup.2 /g and wherein the vanadium has an average valence in the range of from 3.5 to 4.95.

Abstract: A process for producing a conjugated diolefin, which comprises oxidatively dehydrogenating a monoolefin having at least 4 carbon atoms in the vapor phase with molecular oxygen to form the corresponding conjugated diolefin, said reaction being carried out in the presence of a catalyst having the general composition formulaMo.sub.a Bi.sub.b Cr.sub.c Ni.sub.d X.sub.e Fe.sub.f Y.sub.g Z.sub.h O.sub.iwherein X represents Zr or Al, Y represents at least one element selected from the group consisting of metal elements of Group Ia of the periodic table, metal elements of Group II of the periodic table, Tl and P, Z represents at least one element selected from the group consisting of In, Ag, Ti, Nb, Ta, Co, La, Ce, Nd and Mn, a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h and i are respectively the atomic numbers of Mo, Bi, Cr, Ni, X, Fe, Y, Z and O, and when a=12, b=0.05-20, c=0.05-20, d=0.1-30, e=0.01-20, f=0.01-20, g=0.001-20, h=0-20, and i is the atomic number of oxygen satisfying the atomic valences of the other elements.

Abstract: Oxide complex catalysts comprising Fe-Sb-Bi-O.sub.x promoted with a wide variety of different elements have been found to be especially useful in the ammoxidation of olefins to nitriles such as acrylonitrile and methacrylonitrile. Not only are the desired nitriles obtained with high yields when these catalysts are used, but also the production of unwanted liquid byproducts such as acrolein, acrylic acid and acetonitrile is significantly reduced.

Abstract: In a process for producing a conjugated diolefin which comprises oxidatively dehydrogenating a monolefin having at least 4 carbon atoms in the vapor phase with molecular oxygen to form the corresponding conjugated diolefin; the improvement wherein the oxidative dehydrogenation is carried out in the presence of a catalyst having the general composition formulaMo.sub.a Bi.sub.b Cr.sub.c Ni.sub.d X.sub.e Y.sub.f O.sub.gwherein X represents at least one element selected from Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Tl and P, Y represents at least one element selected from metal elements of Group II of the periodic table, and a, b, c, d, e, f and g respectively represent the number of Mo, Bi, Cr, Ni, X, Y and O atoms, and when a=12, b=0.05-20, c=0.05-20, d=0.1-30, e=0.01-10, f=0.01-20, and g is the number of oxygen atoms which satisfies the atomic valences of the other elements.