TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preparation (claimed): A support is added to water with agitation to form a slurry which is maintained at 35-210 degrees C. An aqueous cobalt salt solution having a pH value greater than the point of zero charge of the support is added to the slurry with agitation at 65-120 degrees C, until cobalt is completely reacted with the support. The slurry is separated into liquor portion and solid portion. The solid portion is washed with water, dried and calcined at 90-375 degrees C to form catalyst particles. The particles are reduced by heating from ambient temperature to 300-500 degrees C at a rate of 0.1-10 degrees C/minute for 5-40 hours.Preferred Preparation: The cobalt salt solution comprises water and cobalt(II) complex having co-ordination sphere ligands chosen from water, chloride ion, ammonia, pyridine, triphenylphosphine, 1,2-diaminoethane, diethylenetriamine, triethylenetraamine, acetate, oxalate, 2,4-pentanedione and/or ethylenedinitilo tetraacetic acid (sic), preferably hexaammine cobalt(II) carbonate.Preferred Components: The metal in the catalyst particles is nickel, cobalt, iron, ruthenium, osmium, platinum, palladium, iridium, rhenium, molybdenum, chromium, tungsten, vanadium, rhodium, copper and/or zinc, preferably cobalt. The promoter is boron, cerium, chromium, copper, iridium, iron, lanthanum, manganese, molybdenum, palladium, platinum, rhenium, rhodium, ruthenium, strontium, tungsten, vanadium, zinc, sodium oxide, potassium oxide, rubidium oxide, cesium oxide, magnesium oxide, titanium oxide, zirconium oxide, and other rare earth metals such as scandium, yttrium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium and/or lutetium. The particles may comprise cobalt (in weight%) (5-60, preferably 10-30), primary promoter (0.0001-1, preferably 0.01-0.05) and secondary promoter (0.01-5, preferably 0.1-1). The primary promoter is preferably palladium, platinum, rhenium, rhodium, ruthenium and/or iridium. The secondary promoter is preferably potassium, boron, cesium, lanthanum, cerium, strontium, scandium, yttrium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, palladium, platinum, ruthenium, rhenium, rhodium and/or iridium. The support is aluminum oxide, gamma-alumina, alumina monohydrate, alumina trihydrate, alumina-silica, magnesium silicate, silica, silicate, silicalite, y-zeolite, mordenite, titania, thoria, zirconia, niobia, hydrotalcite, kieselguhr, attapulgite clay, zinc oxide, other clays and/or other zeolites, preferably gamma-alumina or aluminum oxide. The support has particle size of 60-150 micron, surface area of 90-210 m2/g, pore volume of 0.35-0.5 ml/g and pore diameter of 8-20 nm.Preferred Process: The slurry is preferably maintained at 120-260 degrees C. The reduction of particles is performed by heating the particles from ambient temperature to 350 degrees C at a rate of 1 degrees C/min, and then holding the particles at 350 degrees C for 12-16 hours. The particles are further stabilized to prevent pyrophoric reactions in presence of air, by coating with oil. EXAMPLE - Deionized water (1 liter) was added to a stainless steel beaker. The water was agitated at a maximum setting and heated to 82-85 degrees C. Puralox SCCa (RTM: alumina) (174.15 g) was added and the slurry was maintained at 82-85 degrees C. A metal solution was prepared by combining aqueous hexaammine cobalt(II) carbonate solution (958 ml) with platinum chloride solution (0.4096 ml). The hexaammine cobalt(II) carbonate solution was obtained by reacting cobalt powder with aqueous ammonia in presence of carbon dioxide. The metal solution was poured onto alumina. The slurry was maintained at 77-85 degrees C and then allowed to slowly cool to ambient temperature. The solid material in the slurry was filtered and washed with deionized water (500 ml). The washed material was spread on a stainless steel tray to a depth of 0.5-1 inch and dried in an oven at 93 degrees C for 16 hours. The cobalt-coated aluminum oxide catalyst was calcined in an electric box oven at 240 degrees C for 2 hours. The obtained catalyst had surface area of 212.6 m2/g, pore volume of 0.3022 cm3/g and pore diameter of 56.9 Angstrom. The catalyst contained cobalt (19.8%) and platinum (0.017%).