Metathesis of 1-butene and 2-butene to propene over Re2O7 supported on macro-mesoporous γ-alumina prepared via a dual template method

Abstract Macro-mesoporous γ-alumina support (MMA) was prepared by a sol-gel route in aqueous medium using pseudo-boehmite as aluminum source and polystyrene microspheres and Pluronic P123 as hard and soft dual templates, respectively. MMA had a BET specific surface area of about 259 m 2 ·g −1 , total pore volume of about 1.61 cm 3 ·g −1 , macropore diameter of about 102 nm, and mesopore diameter of about 14 nm. Re 2 O 7 /MMA and conventional Re 2 O 7 /Al 2 O 3 were prepared by a incipient-wetness impregnation method, and their catalytic performances in the metathesis of 1-butene and 2-butene were tested in a fixed-bed tubular reactor. The result showed that Re 2 O 7 /MMA possessed higher activity and far longer working life-span than conventional Re 2 O 7 /Al 2 O 3 .