33 g 10 7 mmol of ferric nitrate nonahydrate and 0 42 g 1 19 mmol of ferric acetylacetonate in 50 ml of methanol the mixture was stirred for 75 min before drying at 105 u00b0 and 28 in hg for 17 hrs the solid was ground and sieved 80 mesh to afford 5 87 g of catalyst analysis showed 13 79 iron present in the catalyst fibrils were prepared following the procedure of example 2 at 650 u00b0 c using 0 0939 g of the above catalyst to afford 0 3962 g of fibrils this corresponds to 31 times the theoretical iron content of the catalyst into a round bottom flask was added 4 33 g of degussa fumed alumina in 20 ml of water followed by a solution of 4 33 g 10 7 mmol of ferric nitrate nonahydrate and 0 17 g 0 138 mmol of ammonium molybdate in 40 ml of water the mixture was mechanically stirred for 1 hour the water was removed at reduced pressure at 40 u00b0 c overnight final drying was accomplished at 140 u00b0 c and 26 mm hg for 21 hours to afford 5 57 g of solid analysis of the catalyst showed 9 87 iron and 1 45 molybdenum to be present fibrils were prepared following the procedure of example 2 at 650 u00b0 c using 0 0794 g of catalyst to afford 0 8656 g of fibrils this corresponds to 111 times the iron content of the catalyst into a round bottom flask containing 4 33 g of degussa fumed alumina and 30 ml of methanol was added a solution of 4 33 g 10 7 mmol of ferric nitrate nonahydrate and.