Aluminum borate catalyst compositions and use thereof in chemical conversions

Claim 1

In a process wherein a desired chemical conversion is carried out by contacting at least one fluid reactant with a solid catalyst at temperatures in the range of about 600°- 3000° F., said catalyst comprising at least one catalytically active component selected from the group consisting of the metals of Groups IB, IIB, VB, VIB, VIIB and VIII, and catalytically active compounds thereof dispersed and supported on a shaped porous support, the improvement which comprises using as said catalyst a composite prepared by the steps of: (1) intimately admixing finely divided alumina in a dry or hydrous state with sufficient boria or boria precursor to provide in the finished catalyst a B 2 O 3 /Al 2 O 3 weight ratio between about 8/92 and 25/75; (2) forming the resulting mixture into an aggregate of desired shape for catalytic contacting; (3) calcining the shaped aggregate for a time and at temperatures sufficient to form a cohesive crystalline aluminum borate aggregate having a surface area between about 1 and 150 m 2 /g and a porosity of at least about 0.1 ml/g; (4) impregnating the calcined aggregate from step (3) with one or more soluble compounds of said catalytically active components; and (5) calcining the impregnated aggregate to convert said one or more soluble compounds to a catalytically active form.