Patent ID: 8071822

Claim:
A process for making a 1-butanol-containing reaction product, comprising: contacting a reactant comprising ethanol and hydrogen with a catalyst at a reaction temperature and pressure sufficient to produce said 1-butanol-containing reaction product, wherein said catalyst is derived from a hydrotalcite of the formula: [M 2+ 1âˆ’x M 3+ x (OH) 2 ][{(Mâ€²Aâ€²) nâ€²âˆ’ } a A n- (1âˆ’a)(nâ€²/n) ] x/nâ€² .y H 2 O wherein M 2+ is divalent Mg, or a combination of divalent Mg and at least one divalent member selected from the group consisting of Zn, Ni, Pd, Pt, Co, Fe, and Cu; M 3+ is trivalent Al, or a combination of trivalent Al and at least one trivalent member selected from the group consisting of Fe and Cr; x is 0.66 to 1; Mâ€² is (i) one or more divalent members selected from the group consisting of Pd, Pt, Rh, Co, and Cu; or (ii) one or more trivalent members selected from the group consisting of Fe, Cr, Au, Ir, and Ru; or (iii) a mixture of one or more of said divalent members with one or more of said trivalent members; Aâ€² is the anion of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid; nâ€² is the absolute value of the sum of the oxidation state of Mâ€² and (âˆ’4); provided that if Mâ€² is said mixture, then nâ€² is calculated according to the following equation: n â€²=the absolute value of [ X D (2)+ X D (âˆ’4)+ X T (3)+ X T (âˆ’4)], wherein X D =the sum of the number of moles of all divalent members divided by (the sum of the number of moles of all divalent members+the sum of the number of moles of all trivalent members), and X T =the sum of the number of moles of all trivalent members divided by (the sum of the number of moles of all divalent members+the sum of the number of moles of all trivalent members); A n- is CO 3 2âˆ’ with n=2 or OH âˆ’ with n=1; a is 0.001 to 1; and y is 0 to 4; by a process comprising heating the hydrotalcite for a time and at a temperature sufficient to cause a diminution in the hydrotalcite powder X-ray diffraction pattern peak intensities between 2Î¸ angles of 10 degrees and 70 degrees using CuKÎ± radiation.