Alkylation of Benzene with 1-Pentene over Solid Phosphoric Acid

Abstract

The solid phosphoric acid (SPA) catalyzed alkylation of benzene with 1-pentene was studied in the range 160−220 °C, 3.8 MPa, and with aromatic to olefin ratios in the range 6:1−1:6. It could be shown that SPA has the potential to be a selective alkylation catalyst for the production of linear alkyl benzenes (LABs) even at low aromatic to olefin ratios, provided that reaction pathways leading to skeletal isomerization can be suppressed. It was also found that steric effects were more important than electronic effects in governing the alkylation selectivity of SPA and that a protonated cyclopropane structure was the most likely transition-state for alkylation that followed an Eley−Rideal mechanism. Laboratory and pilot plant studies indicated that the carbon chain length of the product was limited to C15, with less than 5% di-alkylation of benzene taking place, even for reactions at 1:6 aromatic to olefin ratio.

Synthetic Jet Fuel Production by Combined Propene Oligomerization and Aromatic Alkylation over Solid Phosphoric Acid

“…The pressure was then reduced to about 0.5 MPa and the reactor heated to the desired temperature, upon which the propene feed was introduced via a nitrogen-pressurized system and the pressure adjusted to 3.8 MPa. Sampling was also carried out as described previously 16 and analyzed as outlined below.…”

“…The method used to calculate the initial rates reported in this paper has been described in a previous study. 16 …”

“…To check whether this was just a solvent effect due to the n-tetradecane, as noted in the alkylation studies with 1-pentene, 16 an experiment was carried out with propene in the absence of benzene and toluene ( Table 3).…”

Theory and Practice of Alkyl Aromatic Hydrocarbon Synthesis. 1. Branched Alkylbenzenes

“…They represent the information about the processes at medium and high temperatures, which are being developed nowadays. [17][18][19][20] The data can provide answers to some fundamental question, such as a structure-properties relationship study.…”

Aromatic Alkylation

“…In a Fischer-Tropsch refining context, the use of aromatic alkylation was investigated using various C 4 -C 6 alkenes, employing various solid acid catalysts, but mostly SPA [6,[29][30][31][32]. None of these applications was industrially applied.…”