Patent ID: 8586813

Claim:
A process for the production of propylene, comprising: fractionating a hydrocarbon stream comprising n-butenes, isobutene, and paraffins into at least two fractions including a light C 4 fraction comprising isobutene and a heavy C 4 fraction comprising n-butenes and paraffins; feeding ethylene and the heavy C 4 fraction to a fixed bed reactor comprising a metathesis catalyst and an activated basic metal oxide isomerization catalyst comprising a structure stabilizing agent wherein a process for preparing the isomerization catalyst comprises coextruding an admixture of the basic metal oxide and colloidal silica; contacting the heavy C 4 fraction with the activated basic metal oxide isomerization catalyst to convert at least a portion of the 1-butene to 2-butene; and contacting ethylene and at least a portion of the 2-butene with the metathesis catalyst to form a metathesis product comprising propylene, paraffins, any unreacted ethylene, and any unreacted 1-butene and 2-butene.