2788.     ---------------.  [REICHL, E. H.]  Synthesis of Hydrocarbons and Chemicals From Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen.  Supply and Preparation of Cobalt Catalyst.  U. S. Naval Tech. Mission in Europe Rept. 248-45, 1945, pp. 15-18; PB 22,841; TOM Reel 200.

        All existing plants were operated with the standard Ruhrchemie Co-ThO₂-MgO-kieselguhr (100:5:10:200) catalyst, which was supplied from 3 plants:  Ruhrchemie (Ruhr); Brabag (Saxony); and Wintershall (Silesia), with respective capacities of 100, 65, and 35 oven fillings per mo., each roughly 1 ton.  The overall Co consumption was 85-95 tons per yr., the loss in synthesis and in reworking being for Ruhrchemie 4.0 and 4.0%, respectively, and for Brabag 1.0 and 1.5%, respectively.  The Co resources were barely enough to keep all plants running, Rinland being the only source of supply.  The method of preparation of the catalyst had not been changed since 1938 except for an improved drying apparatus, which not only dried the filter cake but shaped the catalyst with a minimum of abrasion loss in handling.  It consisted of a drum, the outside surface of which was indented to form the molds, the filter cake being pressed on to it to give small (3-mm.) cylinders.  The drum rotated slowly (0.1 r.p.m.), and hot gases passing through it dried the catalyst particles before they could reach the bottom, where having contracted slightly during drying, they dropped out by gravity.  This method made it possible to use a softer kieselguhr, pretreated at 700° instead of 1,000°, which gave a more active catalyst.