Process for catalytic reduction of carbon dioxide with hydrogen

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR THE CATALYTIC CONVERSATION OF CARBON DIOXIDE TO PRODUCE A MIXTURE OF HYDROCARBONS AND OXYGENATED HYDROCARBONS BY HYDROGENATION WHICH COMPRISES: REPEATEDLY PASSING A CARBON DIOXIDE-CONTAINING GAS MIXTURE SUBSTANTICALLY FREE OF CARBON MONOXIDE IN A PLURALITY OF PASSES THROUGH AT LEAST ONE HYDROGENATION ZONE IN CONTACT WITH A HYDROGENATION CATALYST THEREIN CONTAINING AS ITS BASE METAL AT LEAST ONE OF THE ELEMENTS OF THE 8TH GROUP OF THE PERIODIC SYSTEM AND AT LEAST 0.1 TO 6 PERCENT BY WEIGHT OF AN ALKALI METAL COMPOUND, CALCULATED AS ALKALI OXIDE, SAID GAS MIXTURE CONTAINING ABOUT 0.2 VOLUME TO 1.5 VOLUMES OF CARBON DIOXIDE PER VOLUME OF HYDROGEN; MAINTAINING WITHIN EACH HYDROGENATION ZONE A TEMPERATURE OF ABOUT 150* C. TO 380* C. AND PRESSURE OF FROM ONE TO 100 ATMOSPHERES; MAINTAINING A RATE OF GAS FLOW OF EACH GAS PASSAGE THROUGH EACH HYDROGENATION ZONE AT A VELOCITY OF SUBSTANTIALLY 100 TO 5000 NORMAL CUBIC METERS OF GAS PER HOUR PER CUBIC METER OF CATALYST SPACE, THEREBY TO OBTAIN IN EACH PASSAGE ONLY PARTIAL CONVERSION OF THE TOTAL CARBON DIOXIDE; AND REMOVING FROM THE GAS BETWEEN EACH TWO SUCCESSIVE PASSAGES WATER PRODUCED IN THE HYDROGENATION REACTION.