Method for preparing a high-activity supported nickel catalyst, and a catalyst thereby prepared

摘要

A method for preparing high activity supported nickel catalysts comprises depositing nickel nitrate on a support (which is either an inorganic refractory oxide, e.g. alumina or silica-alumina, or carbon), heating the resulting composite in a flowing gaseous atmosphere to a temperature either in the range of from 100-270 DEG C when the atmosphere is substantially free of molecular hydrogen, or in the range 100-220 DEG C when the atmosphere contains molecular hydrogen, avoiding temperature excursions above the stated maxima. The heating decomposes nickel nitrate to the oxide and the resulting supported nickel oxide is then reduced to nickel in a reducing atmosphere at a temperature in the range 230-400 DEG C to produce the high activity supported nickel catalyst. …??The hydrogenation activity of the catalyst is considerably higher than that of prior supported nickel catalysts having the same nickel surface area per unit weight.