Improved Alkylation Technology with Solid Acid Material as Catalyst

Alkylation of isobutane with C3-C5 olefins has been practiced commercially since the 1940s. Indeed, alkylation which is mainly formed by multibranched paraffins,has a rather low vapor pressure, high octane numbers (RON and MON) and a low sensitive factor. In the past twelve years, about 20 alkylation plants using either HF or H₂SO₄ catalysts have been built in China^1]. Concerns have been raised about the safety and environmental impact of the handing of the very large quantities of these liquid acids used in alkylation today and a great deal of time and money has been spent in the past 20 years in attempts to develop alkylation catalyst and process that are more environmentally friend than current industrial technology^2]. To date,no process has been announced that seems to be of commercial interest, but two possible exceptions (Topöse process and UOP Alkylene process) are discussed in this paper. Many difficult technical challenges must be surmount in the next few years for a new solid catalyst alkylation process to be commercialized successfully.