Production of propylene from an unconventional metathesis of ethylene and 2-pentene over Re2O7/SiO2-Al2O3 catalysts

An unconventional metathesis of ethylene and 2-pentene over Re2O7/SiO2-Al2O3 catalysts has been studied as an alternative route for the production of propylene. Complete conversion of 2-pentene and propylene yield as high as 88 wt% were obtained under mild reaction conditions at 35°C and atmospheric pressure. Unlike the conventional metathesis of ethylene and 2-butenes in which isomerization is a competing side reaction, the isomerization of 1-butene product from the unconventional metathesis of ethylene and 2-pentene to 2-butenes can further react with excess ethylene in the feed, resulting in additional increase in propylene yield. The secondary metathesis reaction was found to be favored under ethylene/2-pentene (E/2P) molar ratio ≥3 and gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) ≤1000 h−1 at the reaction temperature of 35°C. No catalyst deactivation was observed during the 455 min time-on-stream under the selected reaction conditions.