High-efficiency WO3/carbon nanotubes for olefin skeletal isomerization

WO3/carbon nanotube (CNT) catalysts with different WO3 loadings were prepared by wet impregnation with ammonium paratungstate as precursor, characterized by X-ray diffraction, temperature-programmed reduction, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy. These materials were tested for C6 olefin skeletal isomerization in different activation (pre-reduction) conditions and compared to a reference tungstated zirconia, WO3/ZrO2, catalyst. They led to very high skeletal isomerization selectivities at 200 °C at high conversion level without any observable deactivation.