Amalgam decomposition catalyst

Finally, active, sometimes even pyrophoric metals can be obtained by thermal decompositions of amalgams. Thus, fine powders of Be [14], Cr [6] and Ni [9, 10] are obtained from their amalgams upon removal of Hg by distillation. Since electro-chemically obtained Fe and Co amalgams [10, 11, 12] decompose spontaneously, the active metal can be separated by simple mechanical means. This type of cobalt is an extremely active hydrogenation catalyst, while Ni produced from an amalgam is totally inactive [10]. 

---