The bimetal catalyst gold(iii) chloride–copper(ii) chloride (AuCl₃–CuCl₂) was prepared with different gamma-aluminium oxide (γ-Al₂O₃) supports and its catalytic properties towards acetylene hydrochlorination were assessed in a fixed-bed reactor.

The flow temperature (FT) of the coal ash from the Liuqiao no. 2 mine in North Anhui Province (C00) is too high (∼1520 °C) to fit the Shell gasifier due to its relatively high content of SiO₂ and Al₂O₃. To solve this problem, a series of coals were blended with C00 with different ratios, and the relations between FT and the ash composition were investigated. The coal ash was analyzed by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy–EDX to elucidate the mechanism of the improved ash fusion performance and the slag formation in the waste heat boiler of the gasifier. It is shown that FT is relevant to the coal ash compositions as well as the structures formed at high temperatures. The existence of alkaline oxides (CaO, MgO, and Fe₂O₃) decreases the coal ash FT to a low level. The FT can decrease to <1350 °C to cater to the Shell gasifier by blending C00 and C03 with a mass ratio of 4:6 owing to the plentiful alkaline oxides in C03. The FTIR results indicate that the high flow temperature of C00 is attributed to the formation of mullite at high temperatures. The coal blending with various ratios changes the compositions of CaO, MgO, and Fe₂O₃, which can form some low-melting-point eutectic compounds with SiO₂ and Al₂O₃ under high temperatures, inhibit the formation of mullite, and thus decrease the ash FT. The coal ash FT was found to have a good linear relation with the ash compositions, which can sever as a reference to the coal blending. According to the model parameters, it is shown that Mg has the most significant promoting effect on the decrease in FT of the coal ash. The caking tendency of fly ash increases with the rising Ca content and an excessive Ca-based fluxing agent used in the coal blending will lead to the aggregation of the Ca-rich clasts around the fly ash particle, resulting in the plugging of the waste heat boiler in the gasifier. Therefore, the Mg-based fluxing agent is more promising to improve the ash fusion performance and reduce the caking tendency of the coal fly ash.

The methanol promoted naphtha catalytic pyrolysis system to obtain light olefins (ethylene and propylene) was studied over Zn-modified high-silicon HZSM-5 (Zn/HZSM-5) catalysts. Compared with the individual naphtha catalytic pyrolysis to light olefins, the addition of methanol remarkably improved the naphtha conversion and the yield of the light olefins. All Zn/HZSM-5 samples were characterized by using a variety of techniques including inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), N₂ adsorption, NH₃-temperature programmed desorption (NH₃-TPD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), pyridine adsorption infrared spectroscopy (Py-IR), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The performances of the catalysts for methanol promoted naphtha catalytic pyrolysis were evaluated in a fixed-bed reactor. In the methanol promoted naphtha catalytic pyrolysis reaction, the yield of the light olefins was strongly dependent on the reaction conditions and the degree of Zn ion-exchange. Due to the heterogeneous distribution of the protons of high silicon ZSM-5, two types of Lewis acid sites were formed by the interaction of Zn with hydroxyl groups (OH) adsorbed on HZSM-5. The 0.3-Zn/HZSM-5 (0.3 mol L⁻¹ Zn ion-exchange HZSM-5) sample holds a comparatively high light olefin yield of 51.7 wt% possibly because of the moderate density and distribution of the acid sites on the catalyst.