Isomerization of wet hexanes

1. A method to isomerize wet hexanes comprising:

a) introducing one or more wet hexanes into a reactor under isomerization conditions to isomerize wet hexanes,

wherein said wet hexanes comprise water and hexanes;

wherein said reactor contains a catalyst comprising tungsten, zirconium and a Group VIII metal;

wherein said wet hexanes comprise from about 1 wt % to under 30 wt % water and the surface area of said catalyst is less than about 100m 2 /g.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said isomerization conditions comprise a pressure and temperature sufficient to maintain said water in a gas phase.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said isomerization conditions comprise a temperature within a range of about 400° F. to about 700° F. and a pressure within a range of about 100psig to about 300 psig.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein hydrogen is added to said reactor prior to introduction of said wet hexanes.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the ratio of said hydrogen to said hexanes is within a molar ratio of about 1:1 to about 20:1.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said reactor has a liquid weight hourly space velocity of about 0.5 hour −1 to about 20 hour −1 .

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said catalyst composition comprises;

a) metal tungstates;

b) zirconium oxides; and

c) a metal selected from the group consisting of nickel, platinum, palladium, and mixtures thereof.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said catalyst further comprises metal tungstates having a composition of (Me +a (WO 4 ) −2 a/2 ), and wherein the metal (Me) is selected from the group consisting of nickel, zirconium, and mixtures thereof.

9. A method to isomerize wet hexanes comprising:

a) introducing one or more wet hexanes into a reactor under isomerization conditions to isomerize wet hexanes,

wherein said wet hexanes comprise water, in the amount of at least 95% steam, and hexanes;

wherein said reactor contains a catalyst comprising tungsten, zirconium and a Group VIII metal;

wherein said wet hexanes comprise from about 1 13 wt % to under 30 wt % water and the surface area of said catalyst is less than about 100m 2 /g; and

wherein the isomerization conditions comprise a temperature within a range of about 400° F. to about 700° F. and a pressure within a range of about 100_psig to about 300 psig.