Double bond hydroisomerization of butenes

A process for the production of propylene from a C4 stream containing butadiene, 1-butene and 2-butene, comprising:

• mixing said C4 stream with a first hydrogen stream to hydrogenate butadiene and form a feed stream having a butadiene content of no more than 1 wt %,
• hydroisomerizing said feed stream in the presence of a first hydroisomerization catalyst in order to convert at least a portion of said 1-butene to 2-butene and to produce a hydroisomerization effluent while hydrogenating the butadiene,
• separating said hydroisomerization effluent in a catalytic distillation column having an upper end and a lower end to obtain a 1-butene mixture at said upper end, a top effluent stream comprising isobutane and isobutylene and a bottoms stream comprising 2-butene,
• hydroisomerizing said 1-butene mixture at said upper end of said catalytic distillation column using a second hydroisomerization catalyst to obtain additional 2-butene in said bottoms stream,
• mixing said bottoms stream with ethylene to form a metathesis feed stream, and
• feeding said metathesis feed stream to a metathesis reactor and reacting said 2-butene with said ethylene to form propylene,
• wherein said second hydroisomerization catalyst is in the form of catalytic distillation structure for concurrent reaction and separation and is located within said upper end as a single reaction stage proximate an elevation of maximum 1-butene concentration determined as if said step of hydroisomerizing using second hydroisomerization catalyst were eliminated.