Abstract: An off-gas from a process for producing styrene from ethylbenzene, which contains non-condensables; in particular, hydrogen, as well as some aromatics; in particular, ethylbenzene, is contacted with a higher boiling absorption oil to scrub aromatics from the off-gas and provide an off-gas essentially free of aromatics. The absorption step is employed as a final treatment of the off-gas; i.e., subsequent to initial treatment of the off-gas by chilling and/or ethylbenzene scrubbing to initially reduce the aromatics content thereof. A preferred absorption oil is the heavy byproducts obtained from a process for producing ethylbenzene, which contains polyethylbenzenes.

Abstract: Alkylation of an aromatic is provided in a reactor having a central alkylation zone, and a surrounding transalkylation zone. The reaction mixture flows cocurrently through the alkylation zone and then into the surrounding transalkylation zone, with the mixture flowing in approximate plug flow through the transalkylation zone to the outlet thereof. Polyalkyl aromatics recovered from the effluent are recycled to the inlet end of the transalkylation zone.

Abstract: A process in which copper, nickel, cobalt and molybdenum are recovered by direct leaching of comminuted raw manganese nodules with an aqueous ammoniacal leach solution containing cuprous ions. During the process cuprous ions are consumed and are oxidized to cupric ions. The cuprous ions are regenerated by reducing the cupric ions with a reducing gas. An improvement is disclosed which results from increasing the pressure of the reducing gas. This increased pressure facilitates maintaining a high cuprous ion concentration in each reaction vessel, by increasing the rate at which the cuprous ions are regenerated from the cupric ions without affecting the rate at which the metal values are recovered from the nodules, which in turn, increases the efficiency of each reactor thus enabling the size of reactors to be reduced.