A method comprising a) drying a support material comprising silica at temperature in the range of from about 150° C. to about 220° C. to form a dried support; b) contacting the dried support with methanol to form a slurried support; c) subsequent to b), cooling the slurried support to a temperature of less than about 60° C. to form a cooled slurried support; d) subsequent to c), contacting the cooled slurried support with a titanium alkoxide to form a titanated support; and e) thermally treating the titanated support by heating to a temperature of equal to or greater than about 150° C. for a time period of from about 5 hours to about 30 hours to remove the methanol and yield a dried titanated support.