Patent ID: 8309780

Claim:
A process for making an olefin oligomer from a contaminated olefinic feedstock, comprising: oligomerizing an amount of one or more olefins in the presence of a catalyst comprising a catalytically effective amount of two or more metal oxides at a temperature effective to effect oligomerization, wherein the catalyst is represented by the formula: MO n /M′O n′ wherein M and M′, are selected from the group consisting of Al, Ce, Fe, P, W, Zr, and combinations thereof; M and M′ are different metals or combinations of metals; n and n′ are positive numbers and vary stoichiometrically depending on the valency of M and M′, respectively, wherein the contaminated olefinic feedstocks include at least 5 wppm of one or more organic compounds which contain one or more heteroatoms wherein the heteroatoms are chosen from sulfur, nitrogen, oxygen and combinations thereof, and wherein the two or more metal oxides retain 60% or more activity compared to metal oxides without contamination, and wherein the two or more metal oxides are prepared by co-precipitation and calcined in an oxidizing environment prior to the oligomerizing step.