No abstract

Rearrangement of 4-substituted styrene oxides with acidic zeolite catalysts in the presence of polar solvents at room temperature gives the corresponding 4-substituted phenylacetaldehydes in high yields. The procedure has been applied successfully to the rearrangement of disubstituted epoxides. The zeolite can be easily recovered, regenerated by heating and reused.

A hydroprocessing multicatalyst deactivation and reactor performance model was originally developed to predict the life and performance of atmospheric residue hydroprocessing catalysts in a pilot-plant long-life test. The model has been subsequently applied to predict catalyst and reactor behavior in an accelerated life test using Boscan crude oil as the feedstock. Simulations from the original model did not compare well with accelerated test run data. Because Boscan crude oil has very high metal and asphaltene contents, mass balance terms that emphasized noncatalytic hydrothermal reactions in the model were needed, especially when catalysts were severely deactivated. Excellent comparisons were obtained after including hydrothermal reaction terms to refine the model. The model was then used to simulate the Boscan crude oil hydroprocessing in constantsulfur-mode operations, and it was found that it would be more beneficial to operate the atmospheric residue desulfurization unit at a lower initial temperature.