Patent ID: 8518849

Claim:
A method of supporting a hydrocarbon synthesis catalyst material comprising a catalytically active metal and a carrier material on a substrate comprising the steps of: (a) applying the catalyst material to the substrate; and (b) heating the catalyst material to form a catalyst material layer fixed to the substrate, wherein the substrate is a metal substrate and comprises: an adhesion layer with a thickness of 1-10 μm, said adhesion layer is selected from the group consisting of titania, alumina, silica and zirconia, and a primer between the adhesion layer and the substrate; the catalyst carrier is titania or a precursor therefore; the catalyst material applied in step (a) comprises 60 to 90 weight % solvent calculated on the total weight of the catalyst material layer; when the catalyst material is subjected to the heating step (b) it comprises at most 10 weight % of solvent, calculated on the total weight of the catalyst material layer; in heating step (b) the catalyst material is heated to a temperature in the range between 250° C. and 800° C.; cracks having sub-millimeter widths are formed in the catalyst material layer creating domains with the range of the relative sizes of the domains being approximately 1:5; after step (b) the catalyst material layer has a thickness of 20-80 microns.