PATENTS

3480.   ------.  [SOCIETA ANON. PRODOTTI ITALIANI SINTETICI.]  Catalytic Synthesis of Hydrocarbons.  British Patent 654,667; appl. filed in United States Nov. 8, 1946.  Petroleum, vol. 14, 1951, p. 254.

Hydrocarbons, oxygenated or not, are synthesized from a gaseous mixture of CO-H₂ fed into a reaction zone over a bed of fluidized powdered Fe catalyst kept at high temperature and pressure.  Powdered inert material such as sand or silica gel of particle size larger than that of the powdered catalyst is mixed therewith; the particle size of the next material being such that good fluidizing of the mixture is ensured, with substantially no movement of inert material as a whole relative to the body of the catalyst.