摘要 |
A continuous process for alkylating an alkylatable hydrocarbon with an alkylating agent in the presence of an acid-type catalyst in which the alkylatable hydrocarbon is contacted with the alkylating agent in the presence of the catalyst at a temperature and for a time sufficient to alkylate the alkylatable hydrocarbon, the reaction product is separated into an alkylate product phase and a catalyst phase, containing catalyst-soluble oil, the catalyst phase is cooled to maintain a preselected temperature in the exothermic alkylation zone, the cooled catalyst phase is recycled to the alkylation reaction and a predetermined concentration of catalyst-soluble oil is maintained in the catalyst phase by at least periodically heating an alkylating agent to a temperature above the reaction temperature, contacting the heated alkylating agent with one of the separated recycle catalyst, separated rerun catalyst, fresh catalyst or mixture thereof and combining the resultant reaction product with separated recycle catalyst prior to the cooling of the separated recycle catalyst phase. A start-up procedure, in which the content of catalyst-soluble oil in the catalyst phase is brought up to the predetermined concentration, is also disclosed in which the reaction product of the heated alkylating agent and the catalyst is added to the catalyst phase. Apparatus for carrying out the above processes is also described.
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