Catalyst pretreatment with hydrocarbon feedstock

In a hydrocarbon conversion process which comprises contacting a hydrocarbon feedstock with a liquid phase catalyst comprising tantalum pentafluoride, niobium pentafluoride or mixtures thereof in combination with hydrogen fluoride, the molar ratio of the hydrogen fluoride to the pentafluoride component of the catalyst being at least 2:1, thereby forming a partially deactivated catalyst which contains active or potentially active catalyst species and deactivated catalyst species, the improvement which comprises maintaining hydrocarbon conversion activity of the catalyst in said process by the steps comprising

• 1. passing a purge stream of said partially deactivated catalyst into an extraction zone, the remaining partially deactivated catalyst being returned to said hydrocarbon conversion process;
• 2. contacting, in said extraction zone, the purge stream of step (1) with said hydrocarbon feedstock prior to introducing said feedstock into said hydrocarbon conversion process, the amount of said feedstock being sufficient to remove at least 25 wt. % of the active or potentially active catalyst species from said purge stream, said contacting occurring substantially in the liquid phase and at a temperature below the critical temperature of the hydrogen fluoride, the volume ratio of said purge stream to said hydrocarbon feedstock ranging from about 1:20 to about 1:100,000;
• 3. forming an extract phase containing substantially all of the hydrocarbon feedstock employed in step (2) and substantially all of the active or potentially active catalyst species removed in step (2) and a raffinate phase containing at least 50 wt. % of the deactivated catalyst species present in the purge stream of step (1);
• 4. passing at least a portion of said extract phase from said extraction zone to said hydrocarbon conversion process;
• 5. withdrawing a raffinate phase containing said deactivated catalyst species from said extraction zone;
• and
• 6. adding active catalyst to said hydrocarbon conversion process in an amount sufficient to replace the active or potentially active catalyst species not returned to the hydrocarbon conversion process in step (4) and the deactivated catalyst species withdrawn in step (5).

In an isomerization process which comprises contacting a hydrocarbon feedstock comprising a saturated acyclic hydrocarbon having at least four carbon atoms, a saturated alicyclic hydrocarbon having at least six carbon atoms or mixtures thereof, with a liquid phase catalyst comprising tantalum pentafluoride, niobium pentafluoride or mixtures thereof in combination with at least an equimolar amount of hydrogen fluoride, thereby forming a partially deactivated catalyst which contains active or potentially active catalyst species and deactivated catalyst species, the improvement which comprises maintaining hydrocarbon conversion activity of the catalyst in said process by the steps comprising

• 1. passing a purge stream of said partially deactivated catalyst into an extraction zone, the remaining partially deactivated catalyst being returned to said isomerization process;
• 2. contacting, in said extraction zone, the purge stream of step (1) with said hydrocarbon feedstock prior to introducing said feedstock into said isomerization process, the amount of said feedstock being sufficient to remove at least 25 wt. % of the active or potentially active catalyst species from said purge stream, said contacting occurring substantially in the liquid phase, at a temperature below the critical temperature of the hydrogen fluoride and at a hydrogen partial pressure of at least 0.1 atmospheres, the volume ratio of said purge stream to said hydrocarbon feedstock ranging from about 1:20 to about 1:100,000;
• 3. forming an extract phase containing substantially all of the hydrocarbon feedstock employed in step (2) and substantially all of the active or potentially active catalyst species removed in step (2) and a raffinate phase containing at least 50 wt. % of the deactivated catalyst species present in the purge stream of step (1);
• 4. passing at least a portion of said extract phase from said extraction zone to said isomerization process;
• 5. withdrawing a raffinate phase containing said deactivated catalyst species from said extraction zone;
• and
• 6. adding active catalyst to said isomerization process in an amount sufficient to replace the active or potentially active catalyst species not returned to the isomerization process in step (4) and the deactivated catalyst species withdrawn in step (5).