Patent ID: 8178736

Claim:
A process comprising: obtaining a mixed C 4 stream comprising isobutylene, 1-butene and 2-butene, removing at least a portion of the 2-butene, isomerizing the removed portion of the 2-butene in an isomerization reactor to obtain additional 1-butene, and combining the additional 1-butene with the remainder of the mixed C 4 stream to form a mixed C 4 metathesis feed stream comprising isobutylene and 1-butene, reacting the mixed C 4 metathesis feed stream in a first metathesis reactor in the presence of a first metathesis catalyst under conditions sufficient to produce an intermediate product stream comprising at least 30 wt. % 2-methyl-2-pentene based upon the olefin content of fresh feed in the mixed C 4 metathesis feed stream, and at least one of ethylene and propylene, separating the 2-methyl-2-pentene, subjecting the separated 2-methyl-2-pentene to pyrolysis to produce a reaction product stream comprising isoprene, and separating the isoprene into an isoprene product stream using fractionation.