Patent ID: 8916491

Claim:
A process for producing a methanation catalyst, the process comprising: (i) contacting a fusible metal salt and a finely divided hydrotalcite-comprising starting material, (ii) intimately mixing by mechanical mixing the fusible metal salt and the hydrotalcite-comprising starting material, thereby obtaining a mixture of the fusible metal salt and the hydrotalcite-comprising starting material, (iii) thermally treating said mixture of said fusible metal salt and said hydrotalcite-comprising starting material under a condition wherein the fusible metal salt is present in a form of a metal salt melt, optionally at a temperature of from 30 to 250° C., (iv) calcining a thermally treated mixture at a temperature of <500° C., optionally for a duration of from 0.1 to 24 hours, (v) molding or shaping a product of calcining said thermally treated mixture, and (vi) further calcining a molded or shaped product of calcining said thermally treated mixture at a temperature of ≧500° C., optionally for a duration of from 0.1 to 24 hours thereby obtaining the methanation catalyst.