Calcination process for producing an improved ethylene oxide catalyst

A method for producing a catalyst effective in the oxidative conversion of ethylene to ethylene oxide, the method comprising:

• subjecting a refractory carrier impregnated with a liquid silver-containing solution to a two-step calcination process, wherein the two-step calcination process comprises:
• removing solvent, in a first step, from the silver-impregnated carrier, wherein the removing is performed by heating the silver-impregnated carrier to a base temperature (Tbase) of at least 80° C. and up to about 200° C. to produce a dry carrier impregnated with ionic silver, and
• reducing ionic silver, in a second step, from the dry carrier impregnated with ionic silver by gradually heating the dry carrier above the base temperature under an inert atmosphere to a maximum temperature (Tmax) of at least 350° C. and up to about 500° C. and then gradually cooling to the base temperature, wherein the two-step calcination process is conducted such that (Tbase<Tmax)×HW is at least 2000 min.° C., wherein Tbase and Tmax are measured in ° C., and HW is measured in minutes and is a full width at half maximum of a temperature versus time curve delineated by the second step of reducing ionic silver where Tbase is taken as the baseline of the curve in calculating HW.