Developments in Alkylation

An engineered solid acid alkylation catalyst has been designed at multiple levels to provide long life, resistance to poisons, and high product octane. This catalyst forms the core of a safe and efficient process that generates high octane alkylate without the dangers and costs associated with liquid acid technology. The catalyst has been proven in a pilot plant using untreated commercial MTBE raffinate as the olefin source. The integration of catalyst science and reaction engineering allows catalyst lifetimes that are an order of magnitude longer than most solid acid catalysts. The long catalyst lifetime results in a simple process flow scheme utilizing two packed bed recycle reactors. The simplified process scheme and the elimination of brick lined vessels and acid neutralization equipment reduce capital cost to approximately 50% of a sulfuric acid unit.