Hydrogenation of carbon monoxide with promoted iron catalyst

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR HYDROGENATING CARBON MONOXIDE WITH A FLUIDIZED CATALYST TO PRODUCE A RELATIVELY HIGH YIELD OF OXYGENATED ORGANIC COMPOUNDS HAVING MORE THAN ONE CARBON ATOM PER MOLECULE WHICH COMPRISES FLOWING A GASEOUS MIXTURE COMPRISING HYDROGEN AND CARBON MONOXIDE THROUGH A REACTION ZONE IN THE PRESENCE OF A FINELY-DIVIDED IRON CATALYST CONTAINING METALLIC IRON AS THE ESSENTIAL CATALYTICALLY ACTIVE INGREDIENT AND BETWEEN ABOUT 0.8 AND ABOUT 2.0 WEIGHT PER CENT OF AN ALKALI METAL OXIDE AT A VELOCITY EFFECTIVE TO FLUIDIZE SAID FINELY-DIVIDED IRON CATALYST IN THE GASEOUS MIXTURE IN SAID REACTION ZONE AT A REACTION TEMPERATURE BETWEEN ABOUT 580* F. AND ABOUT 750* F. AND AT A PRESSURE BETWEEN ABOUT 50 AND ABOUT 500 POUNDS PER SQUARE INCH GAGE TO PRODUCE OXYGENATED ORGANIC COMPOUNDS HAVING MORE THAN ONE CARBON ATOM PER MOLECULE, WITHDRAWING AN EFFLUENT FROM SAID REACTION ZONE AFTER CONTACT OF SAID GASEOUS MIXTURE WITH SAID CATALYST AND RECOVERING A SUBSTANTIAL QUANTITY OF OXYGENATED ORGANIC COMPOUNDS HAVING MORE THAN ONE CARBON ATOM PER MOLECULE FROM SAID EFFLUENT AS PRODUCTS OF THE PROCESS.