3911.  -----[WHITE, P.C.] (Standard Oil Co. of Indiana). Preparation of a Raney Catalyst Surface. United States Patent 2,583,619, Jan. 29, 1952; appl. filed Mar. 15, 1944, Serial No. 526,661; 2 claims (Cl. 252-477).

Method is devised for preparing catalytically active heat-exchange surfaces for promoting synthesis by exothermic reaction of H₂ with CO. There is a reaction zone with heat transferred from the catalytic surfaces through a gas-impermeable metal wall to a cooling medium instead of from the catalyst surface through the gas phase to the metal wall. An alloy layer is produced on the reaction-zone side of a catalyst-forming metal chamber fabricated of at least 1 metal of the Fe group to a thickness of about 0.015-0,125 in., with an alloying element such as Si, Al, or Zn, the alloy layer comprising 35-65 wt. % of the alloying element. The alloy layer is leached with an aqueous solvent capable of dissolving the alloying element, but not the catalyst-forming metal and leaving the latter in the form of a fixed skeleton layer integrally bonded to the reaction zone side of the gas impermeable metal chamber. The mixed catalyst skeleton is then activated by treatment with H₂.