A hydroalkylation catalyst comprising a molecular sieve and a compound of a hydrogenation metal is activated by treating the catalyst at a temperature of less than about 250 C. in the presence of hydrogen.

The invention relates to a process for producing a particulate, Si-bonded fluidized-bed catalyst having improved abrasion resistance, which comprises the steps I. provision of an aqueous suspension comprising zeolite particles, II. addition of a silicone resin mixture comprising one or more hydrolyzable silicone resin precondensates and mixing of the aqueous suspension and the silicone resin mixture, III. spray drying of the mixture obtained from step II, with the mixture being homogenized before spray drying, and IV. calcination of the spray-dried fluidized-bed catalyst obtained from step III,
and an Si-bonded fluidized-bed catalyst which can be produced by this process and also its use for the nonoxidative dehydroaromatization of C.sub.1-C.sub.4-aliphatics.

Medium or large pore synthetic zeolites are provided comprising at least 0.02 wt %, based on the weight of the zeolite, of a catalytic metal selected from the group consisting of Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag, Os, Ir, Pt, Au, Mo, W, Re, Co, Ni, Zn, Cr, Mn, Ce, Ga, Cu and combinations thereof, which is present as catalytic metal particles, wherein at least 60% by number of said catalytic metal particles have a particle size of 2.0 nm or less, and at least 0.005 wt %, based on the weight of the zeolite, of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal selected from the group consisting of Li, Na, K, Cs, Ca, Mg, Ba and Sr and combinations thereof, wherein, if the zeolite comprises in the zeolite framework a trivalent element Y selected from the group consisting of Al, B, Ga Fe and combinations thereof, the SiO.sub.2:Y.sub.2O.sub.3 ratio is greater than 200:1.