Patent ID: 7618917

Claim:
A ruthenium catalyst, obtainable by: i) treating a support material based on amorphous silicon dioxide comprising at least 95% by weight of silicon dioxide and less than 1% by weight aluminum oxide, calculated as Al 2 O 3 , one or more times with a halogen-free aqueous solution of a low molecular weight ruthenium compound, which does not contain halogen, and which is a ruthenium (III) salt or a metal ruthenate and subsequently drying the treated support material at a temperature below 200° C., and ii) reducing the solid obtained in i) by means of hydrogen at a temperature ranging from 100 to 350° C., wherein step ii) is carried out directly after step i), and wherein the ruthenium content in the catalyst ranges from 0.1 to 5% by weight, based on the support material.