Production of amines from alcohols

In a process for the production of an amine by reacting an alkanol having one to eighteen carbon atoms;

• or a cycloalkanol having five to twelve carbon atoms;
• or an alkanolamine selected from the group consisting of ethanolamine, propanolamine, isopropanolamine, and hexanolamine;
• or a polyalcohol selected from the group consisting of diethanolamine, diisopropanolamine, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, butanediol, pentanediol, hexanediol, 4,4'-bishydroxycyclohexyl-propane-(2,2);
• or a glycol ether selected from the group consisting of methyl glycol, ethyl glycol and butyl glycol;
• or and a polyalkylene glycol ether selected from the group consisting of polyethylene glycol ether, polypropylene glycol ether, and polybutylene glycol ether, with ammonia or a primary or a secondary amine, the ammonia or amine being present in an excess of from 5 to 50 moles over the stoichiometric amount of alcohol in the presence of hydrogen and a cobalt, nickel and copper-containing aluminum oxide or silicon dioxide supported catalyst at a temperature of from 100.degree. to 200.degree. C and at a pressure of from 10 to 250 atmospheres, the improvement which consists essentially of using a supported catalyst containing, based on the metal content of the catalyst, from 70 to 95% by weight of a mixture of cobalt and nickel and from 5 to 30% by weight of copper, the ratio by weight of cobalt to nickel being from 4:1 to 1:4, the metal content of the catalyst being from 5 to 80% by weight, based on the whole catalyst.