Claims
- 1. A process for the alkylation of aryl compounds contained in a light reformate comprising:
- (a) treating a light reformate containing aryl compounds, sulfur compounds and unsaturated compounds to selectively hydrogenate a portion of the unsaturated materials and remove a portion of the sulfur compounds comprising:
- (i) feeding said light reformate containing aryl compounds, unsaturated compounds and sulfur compounds to a distillation column reactor, containing a hydrogenation catalyst prepared as distillation structure, into a hydrogenation feed zone;
- (ii) feeding hydrogen into said feed zone, and
- (iii) contacting said light reformate stream and said hydrogen with said hydrogenation catalytic distillation structure in a distillation reaction zone thereby catalytically reacting at least a portion of unsaturated compounds to form saturated compounds and a portion of the sulfur compounds are converted to H.sub.2 S;
- (b) feeding said treated light reformate and a C.sub.2 -C.sub.4 olefin to an aromatic alkylation zone containing an acidic molecular sieve or acidic cation exchange resin catalyst to react at least a portion of said aryl compounds with said C.sub.2 -C.sub.4 olefinic compounds to form a reaction product containing alkylated aryl compounds having a higher octane number and a lower specific gravity than said aryl compounds in said light reformate stream; and
- (c) fractionating the reaction product to separate a heavier alkylated aryl compounds fraction and a lighter unalkylated fraction.
- 2. The process according to claim 1 wherein said unsaturated compounds comprise olefins above C.sub.4.
- 3. The process of claim 1 further comprising separating any unreacted gas from any unreacted light reformate from the hydrogenation and the alkylation and combining said alkylated aryl compounds with said unreacted light reformate to provide a mixture having a higher octane number and lower sulfur content than said light reformate stream.
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation, of application Ser. No. 08/854,731, filed May 12, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,076.
US Referenced Citations (18)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
338517 |
May 1972 |
SUX |
1080586 |
Aug 1967 |
GBX |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
854731 |
May 1997 |
|