Patent ID: 7655593

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a catalyst, comprising the steps of: (i) forming an aqueous solution of a cobalt ammine carbonate complex at a pH in the range 7.5 to 12, (ii) mixing the cobalt ammine complex solution with a solid catalyst support selected from the group consisting of alumina, silica, silica-alumina, zirconia, titania, titania-coated silica, titania-coated alumina, zirconia-coated silica or zirconia-coated alumina prior to heating the solution, (iii) oxidizing the solution of cobalt ammine complex by adding to the solution a solution of hydrogen peroxide or a hypochlorite sufficient to convert from 50-90% of the cobalt, calculated as moles of cobalt, from Co(II) to Co(III), and then (iv) decomposing the cobalt ammine complex by heating the solution to a temperature between 80 and 110° C. for sufficient time to allow an insoluble cobalt compound to precipitate out of the solution, (v) filtering the precipitated cobalt compound from the solution, (vi) drying the precipitated cobalt compound at a temperature less than 160° C. to form a catalyst intermediate comprising a cobalt compound and said catalyst support, said cobalt compound comprising a Co(II)/Co(III) hydrotalcite phase and a Co 3 O 4 cobalt spinel phase, wherein the ratio of cobalt hydrotalcite phase: cobalt spinel phase is less than 0.6:1, said cobalt hydrotalcite phase and said cobalt spinel phase being measured by X-ray diffractometry, and (vii) without calcining in air, reducing at least a part of the cobalt compound to metallic cobalt in a stream of hydrogen-containing gas.