Nickel catalysts on transition alumina
AssigneeJohnson Matthey PLC
InventorCornelis Martinus Lok
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Abstract
A particulate catalyst suitable for the hydrogenation of fats or oils containing 5 to 75% by weight of nickel may be made by slurrying a transition alumina powder having a surface-weighted mean diameter D[3,2] in the range 1 μm to 20 μm with an aqueous solution of a nickel ammine complex, followed by heating to deposit an insoluble nickel compound and then reducing the latter. Catalysts containing up to about 55% by weight of nickel have a nickel surface area above 130 m2/g of nickel. Catalysts having greater nickel contents made using alumina having an average pore diameter above 12 μm may have a lower nickel surface area but are surprisingly active and selective.
Claims21
A particulate nickel/transition alumina catalyst containing 5 to 75% by weight of total nickel, having a nickel surface area of at least 80 m2 per gram of total nickel, and a surface-weighted mean diameter D[3,2] in the range 1 μm to 20 μm.
A method of making a nickel/transition alumina catalyst containing 5 to 75% by weight of total nickel, comprising slurrying a transition alumina powder having a surface-weighted mean diameter D[3,2] in the range of 1 μm to 20 μm with an aqueous solution of a nickel ammine complex, heating the slurry to cause the nickel ammine complex to decompose with the deposition of an insoluble nickel compound, filtering the solid residue from the aqueous medium, drying and, optionally after calcining the solid residue, reducing the solid residue.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.