Alkylation Process

A process for producing an alkylated aromatic compound stream from at least one untreated alkylatable aromatic compound stream in the liquid phase having catalyst poisons and an alkylating agent stream, wherein said untreated alkylatable aromatic compound stream is treated to reduce catalyst poisons, the process comprising the steps of:

• (a) contacting said liquid phase untreated alkylatable aromatic compound stream having said catalyst poisons and an alkylating agent stream with a treatment composition in a treatment zone separate from an alkylation reaction zone under treatment conditions to remove at least a portion of said catalyst poisons and to alkyate at least a portion of said alkylatable aromatic compound to form a treated effluent stream which comprises treated alkylatable aromatic compound, an alkylated aromatic compound and a reduced amount of catalyst poisons, wherein said treatment composition has a surface area/surface volume ratio of greater than about 30 in−1 (12 cm−1), said treatment conditions include a temperature of from about 30° C. to about 300° C. and a pressure from about 101 kPa to about 4601 kPa, and a molar ratio of untreated alkylatable aromatic compound to alkylating agent of greater than or equal to about 25:1;
• and
• (b) contacting said treated alkylatable aromatic compound in said effluent stream and additional said alkylating agent stream with a catalyst composition in said alkylation reaction zone separate from said treatment zone under at least partial liquid phase catalytic conversion conditions to form an alkylated effluent stream which comprises additional alkylated aromatic compound, wherein said catalyst composition comprises a porous crystalline material having a framework structure type selected from the group consisting of FAU, *BEA, MOR, MWW and mixtures thereof, wherein said at least partial liquid phase catalytic conversion conditions include a temperature of from about 100° C. to about 300° C., a pressure from about 689 kPa to about 4601 kPa, a molar ratio of treated alkylatable aromatic compound to alkylating agent of from about 0.01:1 to about 25:1, and a feed weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) based on alkylating agent of from about 0.5 to about 500 hr−1.