Silver-beryllium oxide catalyst and method for making same

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR PREPARING A SILVER-BERYLLIUM OXIDE CATALYST ADAPTED TO CATALYZE THE OXIDATION OF ETHYLENE TO ETHYLENE OXIDE WHICH COMPRISES COPRECIPITATING A REDUCIBLE OXYGEN-CONTAINING COMPOUND OF SILVER AND A CORRESPONDING COMPOUND OF BERYLLIUM IN A SILVER: BERYLLIUM WEIGHT RATIO OF FROM 5:1 TO 150:1 FROM A SOLUTION OF A SILVER COMPOUND AND A BERYLLIUM COMPOUND, INTIMATELY MIXING SAID COPRECIPITATE WITH A SEPARATELY PREPARED REDUCIBLE OXYGEN-CONTAINING COMPOUND OF SILVER, AND SEPARATLY PREPARED SILVER COMPOUND BEING ADDED IN THE MIXING STEP IN AMOUNT CORRESPONDING TO AT LEAST 25 PARTS BY WEIGHT OF SILVER FOR EACH PART BY WEIGHT OF BERYLLIUM IN THE COPRECIPITATE AND IN AMOUNT SUFFICIENT TO GIVE A RESULTING MIXTURE IN WHICH THE AG:BE WEIGHT RATIO IS IN THE RANGE OF 100:1 TO 500:1, THEN REDUCING THE INTIMATE MIXTURE TO A MIXTURE OF METALLIC SILVER AND BERYLLIUM OXIDE AND HEATING THE REDUCED MIXTURE AT ABOUT 350 TO 600* C. FOR 3 TO 10 HOURS.