US Patent 7816572 Propylene and isoprene production

A process for producing propylene and isoprene from a feed stream comprising 1-butene and isobutene is disclosed. The feed stream is reacted in a catalytic distillation reactor containing an olefin isomerization catalyst to produce an overhead stream comprising 2-butene and isobutene and a bottoms stream comprising 2-butene. The overhead stream is reacted in the presence of a metathesis catalyst to produce propylene and isoamylenes. Isoprene is produced by dehydrogenation of isoamylenes.