Imperial Chemical Industries Limited

Johnson Matthey Public Limited Company

Gavin Gray

Cornelis Martinus Lok

Stephen Bailey

Stephen Derek Rogers

Production of nickel/silica hydrogenation catalyst precursors by heating a slurry of particulate silica, e.g. kieselguhr, in an aqueous nickel ammine carbonate solution for a total period of at least 200 minutes at a pH above 7.5, followed by filtration, washing, drying, and optionally calcination.

Hydrogenation catalysts

The invention relates to catalysts comprising cobalt supported on a solid silica support and, in particular, to a method for manufacturing such catalysts. The catalysts may be prepared by slurrying a silica powder or impregnating a silica particle with a solution of a cobalt compound, cobalt amine carbonate, and aging the resulting slurry or solid at elevated temperature; the cobalt amine carbonate is decomposed and precipitated as basic cobalt carbonate onto the silica support. Preferably, the catalysts have a cobalt surface area in the range of 25 to >100 m2 per gram total cobalt. The catalyst may be used in hydrogenation reactions, Fischer-Tropsch reactions and oxidation reactions.

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Cleveland, United Kingdom

Gavin Gray