Concerted process for the production of an alkenyl substituted aromatic compound

An integrated process of preparing a C2-5 alkenyl-substituted aromatic compound from a C2-5 alkane and a C6-12 aromatic compound, the process comprising:

• (a) a first reaction step wherein a C6-12 aromatic compound is reacted with hydrogen chloride and oxygen in a catalytic reactor under process conditions sufficient to yield water and chlorinated C6-12 aromatic compound;
• (b) a second reaction step wherein the chlorinated C6-12 aromatic compound from the first reaction step is contacted with a C2-5 alkane to produce a C2-5 alkane-substituted aromatic compound that spontaneously dehydrogenates to a C2-5 alkenyl-substituted aromatic compound and hydrogen chloride;
• (c) separating the C2-5 alkenyl-substituted aromatic compound from the dehydrogenation effluent stream under conditions sufficient to obtain an essentially non-aromatic, gaseous stream comprising hydrogen chloride, and an aromatics stream comprising the C2-5 alkenyl-substituted aromatic compound and unreacted C6-12 aromatic compounds;
• (d) recycling the hydrogen chloride generated in step (b) into the catalytic reactor of step (a);
• and
• (e) recycling the unreacted C6-12 aromatic compounds recovered from step (c) into the catalytic reactor of step (a).

An integrated process of preparing styrene from ethane and benzene, the process comprising:

• (a) a first reaction step wherein benzene is reacted with hydrogen chloride and oxygen in a catalytic reactor under process conditions sufficient to yield water and chlorinated benzene;
• (b) a second reaction step wherein the chlorinated benzene from the first reaction step is contacted with ethane under process conditions sufficient to produce styrene and hydrogen chloride;
• and
• (c) separating the styrene from hydrogen chloride and any unreacted benzene.