Process for synthesizing diisopropylbenzene

摘要

This invention relates to a process for synthesizing para-diisopropylbenzene utilizing only cumene and propylene as raw materials. This synthesis technique offers the advantage of eliminating benzene as a raw material used in the process. The elimination of benzene is beneficial because it simplifies the process and eliminates the need to purchase and store benzene for use in the synthesis. The elimination of benzene from the synthesis is of particular value since the use of benzene in industrial applications has been under attack on the basis of environmental, safety, and health concerns. The present invention discloses a process for producing para-diisopropylbenzene from cumene and propylene, said process comprising the steps of (1) introducing a feed stream into an alkylation zone wherein said feed stream is comprised of cumene and propylene, and wherein said alkylation zone contains an alkylation catalyst; (2) allowing the cumene and propylene in the feed stream to react together to produce a first mixture of para-diisopropylbenzene and meta-diisopropylbenzene; (3) fractionally distilling the mixture of para-diisopropylbenzene and meta-diisopropylbenzene in a fractional distillation step to separate the meta-diisopropylbenzene from the para-diisopropylbenzene; (4) isomerizing the meta-diisopropylbenzene in the presence of a transalkylation catalyst to produce a second mixture of para-diisopropylbenzene and meta-diisopropylbenzene; (5) recycling the second mixture of para-diisopropylbenzene and meta-diisopropylbenzene recovered from the transalkylation step to the fractional distillation step; and (6) recovering the para-diisopropylbenzene that was separated from the meta-diisopropylbenzene by the fractional distillation step.