PATENT

3501. ----- [STANDARD OIL CO.].  Hydrocarbon Synthesis, British Patent 654,492; appl. filed United States Aug. 5, 1947, Petroleum (London), vol. 14, 1951, p. 254.

Hydrocarbons are oxygenated compounds are synthesized from CO-H₂ gas mixture by contacting it with a fluidized bed of powdered Fe catalyst at high temperature and pressure.  The catalyst is first subjected to a preconditioning treatment substantially under synthesis conditions (pressure about 400 p.s.i.) and thus converted into a form resistant to fragmentation.  Synthesis is then continued with a gas mixture having a lower ratio of H₂:CO, preferably 2:1.