The paper explores the possibility of using KZhV, MP KAH, KCh-2 and KR-2 kaolins produced in Russia as a temporary binder for the production of granulated zeolite NаX, which has high crystallinity and phase purity and a hierarchical pore structure. This zeolite serves as the adsorbent for efficient dehydration of natural and casing-head gases and their cleaning to remove H2S. It was found that KZhV and MP KAH kaolins do not require additional treatments for the production of the indicated adsorbent, whereas KCh-2 and KR-2 kaolins should be additionally dispersed.

In order to establish the main factors that make it possible to regulate the activity and selectivity of the solketal synthesis process from glycerol and acetone, the acidic and catalytic properties of mordenite (MOR, SiO2 /Al2O3 = 29.2) and faujasite (FAU, SiO2 /Al2O3 = 14.9, 97 and 810) were studied. The reaction was investigated at 25 and 50°C, at acetone/glycerol molar ratio of 2.5. In the presence of zeolites, solketal is the main product with a selectivity of 88.1–94.7 %. It has been shown that the main factors determining the conversion of glycerol and the yield of solketal are the availability of reagents to active sites, the number and strength of acid sites, as well as their resistance to the poisoning effect of water molecules formed during the reaction.

In a slurry reactor, the formation of compaction products on Mg/HZSM-5 catalysts, irrespective of the SiO2 /Al2O3 molar ratio in the zeolite, proceeds predominantly on strong acidic sites. The composition of compaction products (mostly trimethyl- and tetramethylbenzenes) virtually does not change with a growth of the molar ratio; however, their amount decreases, which is related to a growth of the mesopore volume with an increase in the SiO2 /Al2O3 ratio. This leads to a decrease in diffusion limitations and contribution of secondary reactions and enhances the removal of coke precursors from the zeolite surface, thus promoting the catalyst activity (the conversion of DME increases twofold). The composition of reaction products changes only slightly with a growth of the SiO2 /Al2O3 molar ratio, the total selectivity to lower olefins is ca. 70 wt.%. A rapid loss of the Mg/HZSM-5 activity with extending the operation time in a slurry reactor is caused not by coking, but rather by «clogging» of the catalyst with decomposition products of the dispersion medium (polydimethylsiloxane).

Import substitution industrialization makes it necessary to adapt domestic industrial catalysts for the application in important technological processes, particularly the environmentally friendly production of hydrogen, which is not accompanied by the emission of СОх and NОх. Ammonia is considered as the most promising medium for hydrogen storage due to its high density with respect to hydrogen as well as convenient storage and transportation. The paper demonstrates the possibility of using industrial domestic catalysts NIAP-03-01, NIAP-07-01, NIAP-06-06 and the developed by our team Со-Al2O3 /SiO2 in the reaction of ammonia dissociation. The conversion and the hydrogen production rate increase in the series NIAP-06-06 – NIAP-03-01 – NIAP-07-01 – Со-Al2O3 /SiO2. At 550 °С and OSG 3000 h–1 the conversion of ammonia on Со-Al2O3 /SiO2 is close to 100 %. Effective activation energies of all the catalysts are comparable with the literature data for the ammonia decomposition reaction; so these catalysts are potentially applicable at moderate temperatures.

The goal of the paper is the review of literature on the processing of microalgae biomass using advanced chemical and bioengineering approaches into various types of biofuels (methyl esters of fatty acids, ethanol, butanol, hydrogen) and marketable chemical products, particularly polyunsaturated fatty acids, pigments, and proteins. The paper deals with the manufacture of products using different strategies that are applied for the development of modern approaches to complex bioprocessing of microalgae biomass.

The review considers the main approaches to thermochemical and catalytic conversion of microalgae biomass (hydrothermal liquefaction, gasification, transesterification and pyrolysis) for the production of biofuels. Particular attention is paid to the key conditions determining the yield of reaction products with the use of catalysts for the production of bio-oil as well as to the approaches to bio-oil treatment. It is shown that the use of bifunctional acid-base catalysts is most appropriate for transesterification processes. Gasification and pyrolysis processes are applied more rarely because the first process is accompanied by the formation of СО2, while the pyrolysis leads to the formation of a large amount of oxidized compounds, which deteriorate the quality of bio-oil.

This is a review of the literature devoted to the production of microalgae biomass and its processing into marketable chemical products using advanced bioengineering approaches. The paper considers approaches to the manufacture of biofuels – biodiesel fuel, ethanol and hydrogen – from microalgae. Methods of biomass pretreatment, recovery of metabolites and their processing into biofuels are discussed.