Patent ID: 8536236

Claim:
A method for the preparation of an eggshell catalyst precursor comprising the steps of: i) immersing shaped units of an oxidic support having a length from 0.5 mm to 50 mm, and a cross sectional width from 0.5 mm to 25 mm in an aqueous solution of cobalt ammine carbonate, ii) heating the solution containing the immersed shaped units at a heating rate of less than 0.4° C/minute to a temperature between 60 and 120° C. to precipitate cobalt compounds onto the surface of the shaped units, iii) separating the resulting supported cobalt compounds from the remaining solution, and iv) drying the supported cobalt compounds to form the eggshell catalyst precursor having a cobalt containing layer with a thickness between 5 and 250 microns; wherein less than or equal to 10 wt. % of the cobalt compounds are precipitated in an unsupported state.