The preparation of active WO3 catalysts for metathesis between ethene and 2-butene under moist atmosphere

Moist atmosphere was employed for the preparation of WO3/Al2O3/HY catalysts (under thermal spread condition) for the metathesis between ethene and 2-butene to propene. The transformation of tungsten oxide species was characterized by XRD, UV–Vis spectra and UV resonance Raman techniques. Compared with the 18 h calcination time under commonly dry atmosphere at 600 °C, moist atmosphere accelerates the transformation of bulk WO3 to surface oxide, and shortens the calcination time to 4 h for highly active catalyst, which also shows better stability for the metathesis reaction at 0.1 MPa and 180 °C. The HY/Al2O3 binary support still displays the synergetic effect for the formation of active site precursors of tetrahedral tungsten oxide species, which exhibit a characteristic Raman band at ∼970 cm−1.