Amorphousnickelbasedalloycatalysts(denotedastheSRNAseriescatalysts)werepreparedviarapidquenchingmethodfollowedbyalkalileachingandotheractivationprocedures.Thephysicochemicalcharacterizationsshowthatnickel,theactivecomponentinthesecatalysts,existsintheamorphousstate,andthecatalystparticlespossessmanynanosizedvoidsleadingtolargesurfacearea(thehighestis145m2/g).TheevaluationresultsinsomemodelreactionsshowthattheSRNAseriescatalystshave2to4timeshigheractivityandselectivitythanconventionalRaneyNicatalystforthehydrogenationofcompoundswithunsatur-atedfunctionalgroups.Atpresent,theSRNAseriescatalystshavebeensuccessfullyusedinhydrogenationofglucose,hydrogenationofpharmaceuticalintermediatesandpurificationofcaprolactam.Inordertousethesecatalystsefficiently,amagneticallystabilizedbed(MSB)technologyhasbeendevelopedbycombiningtheferromagneticpropertyofthecatalystwiththegoodmasstransfercharacteristicsofMSB.ThedemonstrationunitofMSBhydrogenationtechnologyhasbeensetupandhaskeptrunningfor2800hours.Theresultsshowthat,afterrunning2800hours,thecatalyststillretainedgoodactivity;meanwhile,thehydrogenationeffi-ciencyhadbeenimproved10timesincomparisonwiththetraditionalCSTRprocess.
