Manufacture of catalytic materials

Claim 1

A METHOD OF PREPARING A CATALYST WHICH COMPRISES REACTING ALUMINUM WITH LIQUID WATER IN THE PRESENCE OF A MERCURY PROMOTER IN THE AMOUNT OF FROM ABOUT 0.05% TO ABOUT 50% BY WEIGHT OF SAID ALUMINUM AND AN ACIDIC COMPOUND SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF INORGANIC ACIDS, POLYVALENT ORGANIC ACIDS AND ACID-ACTING SALTS IN AMOUNT SO THAT THE AMOAUNT OF MONOVALENT ACID ANION IS BELOW ABOUT 0.13 EQUIVALENT OF ACID ANION PER EQUIVALENT OF ALUMINUM, THE AMOUNT OF BIVALENT INORGANIC ACID ANION IS BELOW ABOUT 0.50, THE AMOUNT OF BIVALENT ORGANIC ACID ANION IS BELOW ABOUT 1.0 AND THE AMOUNT OF TRIVALENT ACID ANION IS BELOW ABOUT 1.0, CONTINUING SAID REACTION UNTIL AN ALUMINA GEL IS FORMED, SEPARATELY RECOVERING ALUMINA THEREFROM, COMMINGLING SUFFICIENT HALOGEN ACID THEREWITH TO INTRODUCE HALOGEN IN AN AMOUNT OF FROM ABOUT 0.1% TO ABOUT 8% BY WEIGHT OF SAID ALUMINA ON A DRY BASIS, AND COMBINING PLATINUM THEREWITH IN AN AMOUNT OF FROM ABOUT 0.01% TO ABOUT 1% BY WEIGHT OF SAID ALUMINA ON A DRY BASIS.