Catalyst and process for oligomerizing olefins

Abstract

A catalyst, which is active in the oligomerization of olefins is an X-ray-amorphous silica-alumina-nickel oxide gel having an SiO.sub.2 /Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 molar ratio of from 30/1 to 500/1, and NiO/SiO.sub.2 molar ratio of from 0.001/1 to 0.01/1, a superficial area of from 500 m.sup.2 /g to 1.000 m.sup.2 /g, and a porosity of from 0.3 ml/g to 0.6 ml/g, the means pore diameter being 1 nm (10 Angstrom), and devoid of pores having a diameter over 3 nm (30 Angstrom). The catalyst selectively dimerizes isobutene into alpha- and beta-isobutene and oligomerizes propylene into its relative dimers and trimers. A process is described for preparing the silica-alumina-nickel oxide gel.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.