Catalyst manufacture

Claim 1

IN A METHOD OF PREPARING A POROUS ALUMINA CATALYST MATERIAL, THE STEPS COMPRISING SPRAY DRYING AN AQUEOUS SLURRY OF ALUMINA HYDRATE TO OBTAIN MICROSPHERICAL PARTICLES CONTAINING ABOUT UP TO ABOUT 20% FREE WATER, SAID HYDRATE CONTAINING ABOUT 10 TO 90% OF ALUMINA TRIHYDRATE, ADDING TO THE SPRAY DRIED MICROSPHERES IN THE PRESENCE OF AN AQUEOUS MEDIUM A MINOR AMOUNT OF A PLURALITY OF METAL COMPONENTS COMPRISING (1) A CATALYTICALLY-ACTIVE PROMOTER CONTAINING A MEMBER SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF COBALT AND NICKEL AND (2) A MEMBER SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF MOLYBDENUM, VANADIUM AND TUNGSTEN TO OBTAIN AN IMPREGNATED ALUMINA HYDRATE CONTAINING AT LEAST ABOUT 50% A FREE WATER, DRYING THE WET ALUMINA HYDRATE PARTICLES TO ABOUT 5 TO 20% OF FREE WATER BY CONTACTING DISPERSED ALUMINA HYDRATE PARTICLES WITH A HEATED GAS, RECONSTITUTING THE DRIED ALUMINA HYDRATE PARTICLES TO AN EXTRUSION MIX BY INCORPORATION OF WATER SO THAT THE MIX CONTAINS ABOUT 30 TO 50% OF FREE WATER, EXTRUDING THE RECONSTITUTED MIXTURE TO OBTAIN MACROSIZE ALUMINA HYDRATE PARTICLES, DRYING THE EXTRUDED PARTICLES TO LESS THAN ABOUT 5% OF FREE WATER AT A TEMPERATURE OF UP TO ABOUT 400*F., AND CALCINING THE DRIED MACROSIZE PARTICLES, AND METAL COMPONENTS BEING ADDED AS COMPOUNDS OF THE METALS, AND THE TOTAL ACTIVE METAL COMPONENTS OF THE RESULTANT CATALYST BEING AT LEAST 0.1 WEIGHT PERCENT OF THE CATALYST AND NOT MORE THAN 40 WEIGHT PERCENT, EACH METAL COMPONENT BEING AT LEAST 0.05 WEIGHT PERCENT, CALCULATED AS THE METAL OXIDES.