Removal of oxygen from hydrocarbon-containing gas mixtures

A process for removing oxygen from hydrocarbon-containing gas mixtures, the hydrocarbons comprising one or more ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbons, the process comprising the steps of:

• introducing a hydrocarbon-containing gas mixture containing 60 to 93.5% by volume of one or more ethylenicallyunsaturated hydrocarbons, from 2 to 10% by volume of oxygen and optionally one or more gases from the group consisting of nitrogen, noble gases, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and water into an isothermally operated reactor, and at least partly converting the oxygen present in the hydrocarbon-containing gas mixture into carbon dioxide and water in the presence of one of more catalysts to produce a gas mixture exiting the reactor, wherein the gas mixture exiting the reactor contains ≤1.5% by volume of oxygen, from 55 to 99.99999% by volume of one or more hydrocarbons and optionally one or more further gases selected from the group consisting of nitrogen, noble gases, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and water,
• wherein the hydrocarbon-containing gas mixture does not contain any hydrogen and no hydrogen is added to the hydrocarbon-containing gas mixture and
• the one or more catalysts are selected from the group consisting of palladium/gold, platinum/gold and salts thereof,
• where the percents by volume are based on the total volume of the hydrocarbon-containing gas mixture introduced into the reactor and add up to a total of 100% by volume.