Patent ID: 7922977

Claim:
A catalyst system active for catalyzing the net partial oxidation of a feed stream comprising a hydrocarbon and an oxygen containing gas to produce a product gas comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide, under reaction promoting conditions when said catalyst system is employed in a fixed-bed configuration, the catalyst system comprising: first and second zones disposed in stacked serial flow arrangement, the first zone comprising at least a first catalyst disposed on a support and the second zone comprising at least a second catalyst disposed on a support, said first zone being upstream of said second zone; wherein said first zone has a greater resistance to flow of the feed stream than said second zone, and further wherein the support in each of the first and second zones individually includes pills, pellets, particulates, powders, spheres, particles, beads, granules, rings, extrudates, or wire gauze and wherein the first and second catalysts both comprise rhodium wherein the channel density of the first zone is 6400 ppsi and the second zone has a channel density of 4225 ppsi.