Guard bed material, its method of making and use

A process for producing a mono-alkylated aromatic compound stream comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing a material comprising a molecular sieve, said material having a first collidine uptake at 200° C.;
• (b) drying said material in a shallow moving bed dryer having a material deposit height of less than about 1 meter with a drying gas at a temperature greater than about 200° C. to produce a guard bed material having a second collidine uptake at 200° C., wherein said second collidine uptake is greater than said first collidine uptake;
• (c) contacting an untreated stream having one or more impurities with said guard bed material of step (b) to remove at least a portion of said impurities and to produce a treated feed stream having a reduced amount of impurities, wherein said untreated stream comprising one or more alkylatable aromatic compound streams, optionally one or more alkylating agent streams;
• and
• (d) contacting said treated feed stream of step (c) and an alkylating agent stream with an alkylation catalyst composition under alkylation condition or a transalkylation catalyst composition under transalkylation conditions to produce an effluent stream comprising said mono-alkylated aromatic compound stream.