Isobutane alkylation over solid acid catalysts under supercritical conditions

Solid catalyzed isobutane alkylation has been investigated for decades, but it has not yet been applied in any commercial uses because of the rapid deactivation of the catalyst. Here, the alkylation reaction has been studied under supercritical conditions using metal-promoted and unpromoted sulfated zirconia as catalysts. The catalytic activity at the supercritical condition of 5.0 MPa, 423K was significantly higher than at lower reaction pressure conditions and the deactivation rate was clearly reduced, independent on the catalyst. Iron- and manganese-promoted sulfated zirconia (SFMZ) showed higher activities under all conditions than unpromoted sulfated zirconia (SZ).