Published February 1974
Alkylation has been practiced commercially for about 40 years. The major use of the process is by the petroleum industry, wherein alkylate is a valuable material for automotive and aviation gasoline blends. This report is limited to that application of the process, with attention being devoted principally to processes in commercial use. Other processes of historic interest are discussed briefly, as well as processes that show potential interest.
In the petroleum industry, alkylation refers to the catalytic reaction of isobutane with light olefins, such as ethylene, propylene, butylenes, and amylenes, to produce highly branched paraffins. These branched paraffins, the alkylate, are of high octane quality and have relatively low volatility. They are therefore desirable blending components for gasoline.
Four alkylation processes are evaluated in this report:
- Sulfuric acid catalyzed autorefrigeration process
- Sulfuric acid catalyzed effluent refrigeration process
- Hydrofluoric acid catalyzed time tank process
- Hydrofluoric acid catalyzed tubular reactor process.