Patent ID: 7208440

Claim:
A method for pretreatment of fresh solid catalyst having an initial volume obtained by a reaction between an inorganic binder and phosphoric acid, said method comprising: providing a vessel of a predetermined volume; adding a liquid hydrocarbon mixture to said vessel; immersing into said vessel an amount of fresh catalyst having a volume less than the predetermined volume of said vessel; maintaining the immersed catalyst for a sufficient time and temperature to swell the catalyst to a predetermined volume increase between 5 and 60%, relative to said initial volume, with no significant volume constraint on said catalyst, thereby permitting a volumemetric expansion of said catalyst in at least one direction; said hydrocarbon mixture comprising at least 10% by weight of olefins and comprising at least one gasoline selected from the group consisting of atmospheric distillation gasolines, gasolines obtained from catalytic cracking units, and gasolines obtained from reforming units, and mixtures of said gasolines.