TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The salt is an iron salt (preferably iron (II) salt). The mixture of salt comprises and iron salt and a cobalt salt (preferably cobalt (II) salt), where the iron and cobalt salt are acetate salts.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Process: The step a) comprises: a1) preparation of a mixture of the sugar with the nitrogen base. The step a) further includes: a2) adding salt or its mixture to the mixture of the sugar and the nitrogen base; a3) adding silica to the mixture obtained from step a2). In step a1), sugar is in the form of a solution. The step a3) is performed by soaking a silica matrix into the solution comprising the sugar, nitrogen base and metal salt or its mixture. In the process (P1), the sugar and nitrogen base are mixed in a ratio of 0.5:1 to 5:1, preferably 1:1 to 1:1.5 (mole/mole). In the process (P1), the solution is a highly concentrated solution (preferably concentration of greater than 1.5 M). The solution of the sugar and of the base is acidified, where the acidification is carried out by adding acetic acid. The acidification is obtained by adding an amount of acid required to completely salify the nitrogen base. In step a2), iron (II) acetate or its mixture and cobalt acetate (II) is added in an amount of 0.1-3.5% (preferably 0.3-3%) (weight of cations/weight of reactants, except for acid and silica). In the process (P1), the mixture the iron (II) acetate and the cobalt acetate (II) are comprised in a ratio of 1:1 to 2:1. In the step b) of carbonizing, the material is subjected to heating at 550-650 degrees C for 50-120 minutes (preferably the material is subjected to heating at 600 degrees C for 60 minutes). The step c) of pyrolyzing is carried out at 650-1000 degrees C for 2.5-3.5 hours. The pyrolysis is carried out at 700-975 degrees C in a heated furnace at a rate of 6 degrees C/minute. After step b) and before step c), a step b1), in which the product obtained from step b) is treated with boiling NaOH, is included. In the step b1), the concentration of NaOH is 1-3 M. After the step b1) and before step c) it is possible to include a step b2), in which the product is washed with water and subsequently dried. The process (P1) involves: mixing a sugar, a nitrogen base or the salt of a nitrogen base, an iron salt and silica obtaining a composition; carbonizing the thus obtained composition at 600 degrees C obtaining a material; treating the material with NaOH; and pyrolyzing the obtained material at 900 degrees C. Preferred Components: The sugar in step a) is selected from glucose, xylose and/or fructose. The nitrogen base in step a) is selected from among guanidine, guanylurea, 2-guanidobenzimidazole and dicyandiamide. EXAMPLE - Preparation of a catalyst was carried as follows: a solution (comprising (g) glucose (3.17), acetic acid (3.6), guanidine acetate (2.7), iron acetate (0.51) and cobalt acetate (0.054)) (10 ml) was added to silica (4.3 g). The suspension was then homogenized for 5 minutes. After leaving it resting for a few minutes, it was stirred again for a further 5 minutes. The gel was then transferred quantitatively into a cylindrical quartz reactor; after degassing for 10 minutes in nitrogen stream (100 cm3/minute), the reactor was inserted in a vertical tubular oven preheated to 600 degrees C for 1 hour, maintaining the nitrogen stream. The reactor was then cooled in air still with nitrogen stream. The black carbon powders obtained were leached with NaOH under reflux conditions to eliminate the silica. The powders were suspended in 250 ml of NaOH (3 M) and boiled under reflux conditions for 1 hour and a half. After cooling, the carbons were filtered. The solids were suspended in water (250 ml), filtered, re-suspended in water until conductivity of the filtered solution reached values of less than 4 mu S. The carbons were then dried at 100 degrees C under stream of nitrogen (for 24 hours) and ground in a ball mill (10 Hz, 5 minutes) with agate bowl and grinding balls to obtain a catalyst.