As disclosed in JP-B-58-20307, a greater part of these catalysts are formed by adding a noble metal such as palladium (Pd), platinum (Pt) or rhodium (Rh) as a catalyst component, and if necessary, a rare earth metal such as cerium (Ce), lanthanum (La) or the like or an oxide of a base metal such as nickel (Ni) or the like as a co-catalyst component to an alumina coating layer formed on a refractor