Hydrogenation catalyst for oxo alcohol process

In the process for preparing oxo alcohols by the cobalt catalyzed hydroformylation of olefins, which process comprises the sequential steps of:

• (a) hydroformylating olefins by reaction with carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the presence of a cobalt hydroformylation catalyst to produce a crude reaction product;
• (b) demetalling the crude product of step (a) to recover therefrom homogeneous cobalt catalyst and separate therefrom crude alcohol product, the crude alcohol product containing 20 wt. % or more of carbonyl compounds;
• (c) hydrogenating the crude alcohol product at an elevated temperature and pressure to reduce the carbonyl compounds to alcohols;
• (d) distilling the product of step (c) and recovery therefrom alcohol products containing very small proportions of carbonyl compounds;
• and
• (e) hydrofinishing the product to step (d) to provide a substantially pure alcohol product, the improvement which comprises conducting step (c) or (e), or both, in the presence of a bimetallic Ni/Mo catalyst supported on alumina or silica-alumina which has been prepared by depositing an organic acid solution of Ni and Mo salts on said support, said acid being a di- or tricarboxylic acid having up to 20 carbon atoms and being decomposable to CO.sub.2 at catalyst calcination temperatures and the catalyst containing no-phosphorous.