Process for producing alkylbenzene

A process for producing cumene from 2-phenyl-2-propanol comprising the steps of:

• (a) feeding a feed stream comprising 2-phenyl-2-propanol to a reactor having a catalytic distillation zone;
• and,
• (b) concurrently in the distillation reactor
• (i) contacting the feed stream comprising 2-phenyl-2-propanol with hydrogen in the catalytic distillation zone to convert 2-phenyl-2-propanol to cumene and form a reaction mixture;
• and,
• (ii) separating cumene from the reaction mixture from (i) by fractional distillation to produce, at a position higher than the catalytic distillation zone, a stream comprising cumene and having a lower concentration of 2-phenyl-2-propanol than the feed stream.

A process for producing cumene from 2-phenyl-2-propanol comprising the steps of:

• a. feeding a feed stream comprising 2-phenyl-2-propanol to a reactor comprising a distillation reaction zone;
• b. concurrrently in the reactor
• (i) contacting the feed stream comprising 2-phenyl-2-propanol with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst comprising a group VIII metal or a group IB metal in the distillation reaction zone to convert 2-phenyl-2-propanol in the feed stream to cumene and form a reaction mixture comprising cumene;
• (ii)separating cumene from the reaction mixture by fractional distillation;
• and,
• (iii)withdrawing, at a position higher than the catalytic distillation zone, a stream comprising from about 98%wt to about 99.9% wt of cumene and having a lower concentration of 2-phenyl-2-propanol than the feed stream from the distillation column reactor;
• c. withdrawing from the reactor a bottom stream comprising 2-methyl-2,4-diphenylpentane and dimethyl-2,3-diphenylbutane from a position lower than the catalytic distillation zone;
• and,
• d. converting the 2-methyl-2,4-diphenylpentane and dimethyl-2,3-diphenylbutane in the bottom stream from (c) to cumene.