A method of fabricating an article includes providing an arrangement of loose nanowires and bonding the loose nanowires in the presence of carbon together into a unitary cellular structure.

A method of manufacturing synthesis gas by catalytic partial oxidation can prevent formation of hot spots from taking place when driving mixture gas to pass through a catalyst-filled layer at high velocity. The method comprises converting mixture gas of source gas containing lower hydrocarbons and oxidative gas containing oxygen into synthesis gas containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide as main components thereof by causing mixture gas to flow through a fixed bed catalyst layer arranged in a reactor. The method of manufacturing synthesis gas by catalytic partial oxidation is conducted such that the mixture gas is made to flow to the catalyst layer under the condition that the Reynolds number does not exceed 20 at the inlet of the catalyst layer.

The present invention relates to a honeycomb structured body including a honeycomb fired body in which multiple through-holes are arranged longitudinally in parallel with one another with a partition wall therebetween, wherein the honeycomb fired body is an extrudate containing ceria-zirconia composite oxide particles and alumina particles, and when the pore size of the partition wall of the honeycomb fired body is measured by mercury porosimetry, and the measurement results are shown as a pore size distribution curve with pore size (m) on the horizontal axis and log differential pore volume (ml) on the vertical axis, at least one peak is present in each of the pore size ranges of 0.01 to 0.1 m and 0.1 to 5 m.

A base for supporting a catalyst for exhaust gas purification, the base including a honeycomb structure obtained by superposing a metallic flat foil and a metallic wavy foil, characterized in that the wavy foil has offset portions where any adjoining two of the wave phases arranged in the axial direction of the honeycomb structure are offset from each other. The base is further characterized in that an oxide coating film has been formed in a given range of these offset portions which includes exposed edge surfaces that are exposed on the gas-inlet side, that the oxide coating film includes 30-99.9 mass % first alumina, with the remainder comprising at least one of second aluminas, Fe oxides, and Cr oxides, that the first alumina comprises -alumina, that the second aluminas comprise one or more of -, -, -, -, -, and -aluminas.

A ceramic honeycomb structure comprising porous cell walls defining large numbers of flow paths, the cell walls having (a) porosity of 55% or more and less than 65%, and (b) 35,000/mm.sup.3 or more of substrate branches, wherein the number of substrate branches is defined by the number of branch points (including connecting points of 3 or more branches and connecting points of different-width branches) per a unit volume, in a network structure obtained by the skeletonization of the three-dimensional structure of cell wall substrates determined by X-ray CT.

This invention provides a carrier for a synthesis gas production catalyst that can suppress carbon depositions and allows to efficiently produce synthesis gas on a stable basis for a long duration of time when producing synthesis gas by carbon dioxide reforming. It is a carrier to be used for producing synthesis gas containing carbon monoxide and hydrogen from source gas containing methane-containing light hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide. The carrier contains magnesium oxide grains and calcium oxide existing on the surfaces of magnesium oxide grains. The calcium oxide content thereof is between 0.005 mass % and 1.5 mass % in terms of Ca.

A metal substrate for catalytic converter for purifying an exhaust gas includes a honeycomb core with metal flat foil and corrugated foil stacked in layers, and an oxide film having a thickness of 0.1 m or more and 10 m or less is formed in a predetermined range including an exposed end surface exposed toward the gas inlet side. The oxide film contains at least a first alumina including -alumina and a Fe oxide. The -alumina contains -alumina with solid-solved Fe and -alumina with no solid-solved Fe. In the oxide film, the content of the first alumina is 30% by mass or more and 99.5% by mass or less, the content of the Fe oxide is 0.5% by mass or more and 40% by mass or less, and the content of Fe is more than 7% by mass and 35% by mass or less.

An amorphous mesoporous alumina having a connectivity (Z) greater than 2.7 is described. The present invention also relates to the process for preparing the said alumina, comprising at least one precipitation step of at least one aluminum salt, at least one heating step of the suspension obtained, a thermal treatment step to form the alumina gel, a gentle drying step or spray drying step, a moulding step of the powder obtained, and a final thermal treatment step in order to obtain the alumina.

A fuel reforming catalyst which contains an inorganic porous support, a catalytically active species, and catalyst particles including CeO.sub.2 and ZrO.sub.2 and in which the concentration of ZrO.sub.2 in the catalyst particles is higher in the vicinity of the particle surface than in the particle interior and the concentration of CeO.sub.2 in the catalyst particles is equal in the particle interior and in the vicinity of the particle surface is proposed for the purpose of providing a new fuel reforming catalyst which can effectively lower the concentration of the hydrocarbon of C2 or more in the gas which has passed through a steam reforming reaction.

A carrier for selectively synthesizing kerosene fraction from syngas, the carrier including the following components in parts by weight: 5-50 parts of mesoporous zirconia (ZrO.sub.2), 10-55 parts of a silicoaluminophosphate (SAPO) molecular sieve, 5-50 parts of modified mesoporous molecular sieve Al-SBA-16, 1-3 parts of sesbania gum powder, and 10-70 parts of alumina A catalyst includes a soluble cobalt salt and the aforesaid carrier. The soluble cobalt salt is loaded on the surface of the carrier.