Catalyst on silica clad alumina support

A process for making a catalyst comprising:

• contacting (a) a catalyst support, which comprises a core of alumina particles and about 1 to about 40 weight percent silica cladding, based on the weight of said cladded catalyst support, on the surface of said core, said catalyst support having a surface area of greater than 20 m2/g and a porosity of at least about 0.2 cc/g;
• said alumina particles being clad either (i) individually as primary particles or (ii) as agglomerates of primary alumina particles;
• with (b) a solution comprising a salt of at least one transition metal to produce an unactivated catalyst;
• wherein said catalyst support has a normalized sulfur uptake (NSU) of up to 25 μg/m2 and
• treating said unactivated catalyst with a heated gas to produce an activated catalyst.