Process for producing renewable mono-methyl alkylbenzene products

A method for production of a mono-methyl alkyl benzene product from a natural oil comprising:

• deoxygenating the natural oil to form a paraffin stream comprising C9 to C28 carbon chains;
• linear selective cracking the paraffin stream in a separate linear selective cracking unit under linear selective cracking conditions in the presence of a linear selective cracking catalyst to form a first stream comprising normal or lightly branched C9 to C14 paraffins, a second stream comprising C14+ paraffins, and a third stream comprising iso paraffins;
• isomerizing the first stream under isomerization conditions in the presence of an isomerization catalyst to form an isomerized stream comprising C9 to C14 mono-methyl paraffins, wherein the isomerization catalyst comprises one or more zeolites comprising a 10-ring AEL framework;
• removing contaminants from the isomerized stream to form a decontaminated stream wherein the contaminants comprise sulfur compounds, or nitrogen compounds, or phosphorous compounds, or oxygenates, or aromatics, or combinations thereof;
• dehydrogenating the decontaminated stream to provide a dehydrogenated stream comprising mono-olefins, di-olefins, and aromatics;
• selectively hydrogenating the di-olefins in the dehydrogenated stream to form additional mono-olefins, and separating and removing the aromatics from the mono-olefins to form an aromatics stream comprising the aromatics and a mono-olefins stream comprising the mono-olefins:
• alkylating benzene with the mono-olefins under alkylation conditions to provide an alkylation effluent comprising alkylbenzenes and benzene;
• isolating the alkyl benzenes to provide the alkylbenzene product derived from the natural oil;
• and
• separating the isomerized stream through a first absorption separation system, wherein the mono methyl paraffins in the mixture are preferentially adsorbed by the adsorbent and where the non-mono methyl paraffins remain in the fluid phase before removing the contaminants from the isomerized stream, wherein the adsorbent in the first absorption separation system is divided into a plurality of adsorbent bed zones;
• or
• separating the decontaminated stream through a second absorption separation system, wherein the mono methyl paraffins in the mixture are preferentially adsorbed by the adsorbent and where the non-mono methyl paraffins remain in the fluid phase before dehydrogenating the decontaminated stream, wherein the adsorbent in the second absorption separation system is divided into a plurality of adsorbent bed zones.