Patent ID: 8536085

Claim:
A method for preparing a cobalt-containing catalyst, the method comprising: impregnating a catalyst support with an aqueous solution of cobalt nitrate; drying the cobalt-impregnated support; impregnating the support with rhenium as a promoter metal in an amount sufficient to provide a loading of rhenium in the range of about 0.01 wt % to about 0.2 wt %, based on the total weight of the catalyst; and conducting a two-step decomposition protocol consisting of the following steps: heating the dried support in an oxygen-containing atmosphere that is substantially free of water and is free of added NO, said heating being at a temperature and for a time sufficient to show infrared peaks developing at 1820 cm −1 to 1877 cm −1 and at a temperature at which only a first endotherm of nitrate decomposition occurs and for a time sufficient for the dried support to pass through only the first endotherm thereby providing an intermediate material, and subjecting the intermediate material to a step of hydrolytically decomposing the intermediate material; followed only by an optional calcining step and then by a reduction step, whereby a cobalt-containing catalyst is obtained.