SBA-15, KIT-6, SiO₂ supported catalysts with 10% Cu loading have been prepared by impregnation techniques. The prepared catalysts have been characterized by BET technique, X-ray diffraction, Temperature programmed reduction (TPR), XPS and N₂O pulse chemisorption techniques. Dehydrogenation of cyclohexanol has been performed over these catalysts in vapour phase at 523 K. SBA-15 and KIT-6 supported copper catalystsshowed higher activity than SiO₂ supported Cu catalyst in dehydrogenation of cyclohexanol, which can be attributed to better Cu dispersion, small copper particle size and more number of Cu active species presented on the surface of mesoporous supported catalysts.

Two series of LaNi_xAl_1−xO₃ catalysts (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) were prepared by hydrothermal and sol–gel methods and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), BET surface area, Temperature programmed reduction (TPR) and Fourier- transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) techniques. The performance of these catalysts was studied for CO₂ reforming of methane (also called dry reforming of methane, DRM) at atmospheric pressure and in the temperature range of 600−800◦C, maintaining a space velocity of 28,800 h ⁻¹. Catalysts containingtrimetallic perovskite showed higher CH ₄ and CO₂ conversions than the bimetallic perovskite, due to the strong interaction of Ni with the former. Strong interaction increased the reduction temperature of the active speciesand reduced the sintering of metallic particles. At 800◦C, the sol–gel catalysts reached theirmaximum activity in terms of both CH ₄ and CO₂ conversions at x=0.3, whereas the same for hydrothermal catalysts required a Ni ratio x=0.6. The trimetallic perovskite formation was responsible for the catalyst stability. A comparison of the best catalysts from the two series revealed that the hydrothermal catalysts exhibited a slightly better performance during the time on stream analysis. The results are interpreted in terms of changes in the physicochemical properties of the catalysts.

Hydrogenation of furfural is carried out efficiently by ZrO₂ using 2-propanol as a hydrogen source in liquid phase. Various characterizations like XRD, Pyridine-FTIR, NH₃-TPD (acidity), CO₂-TPD (basic property), and N₂ physisorption study for surface area analysis were used to understand the properties and to correlate with the activity results. These results revealed that zirconia calcined at low temperature (573 K) possesses amorphous phase, high surface area and large number of acid-base sites which are helpful in achievinghigher activity