Pretreatment of a fresh iridium-containing catalyst

Claim 1

In a method of preparing a fresh metal-containing reforming catalyst wherein a porous support is impregnated with an iridium compound in combination with other metals and thereafter dried, the improvement comprising increasing the dispersion of metals on said porous support prior to exposure to a reducing atmosphere by pretreating the catalyst with oxygen, dry hydrogen halide and a reducing agent in the following sequence of steps: (1) contacting the catalyst with an oxygen-containing gas at temperatures of about 850-1000° F. with oxygen concentration of about 0.1-50 wt. % for about 0.1 to 24 hours. (2) contacting the catalyst with dry hydrogen halide at temperatures ranging from about 700-1000° F. for about 0.5 to 24 hours utilizing at least 0.1 wt. % hydrogen halide per weight of catalyst per hour; and (3) contacting the catalyst with a reducing agent at temperatures ranging from 400-1000° F. for a period of time ranging from 0.1 to 24 hours whereby said dispersion of metals is such that at least 50% of the total metal is exposed as surface metal after pretreatment.