Recovery of Lewis acid/Bronsted acid catalyst with hydrogen at elevated temperatures and pressures

In a hydrocarbon conversion process which comprises contacting a hydrocarbon feedstock with a substantially liquid phase catalyst comprising a metal fluoride selected from the group consisting of tantalum pentafluoride, niobium pentafluoride and mixtures thereof in combination with at least an equal molar amount of hydrogen fluoride, thereby forming a hydrocarbon phase and a catalyst phase, said catalyst phase having become at least partially deactivated due to the formation of catalytically less active complexes with at least a portion of said metal fluoride, the improvement which comprises recovering at least a portion of the metal fluoride component of said catalyst by contact with hydrogen at a temperature in the range of from about 100.degree. to about 500.degree. C. and at a hydrogen partial pressure of at least 1 atmosphere for a period of time sufficient to obtain the metal fluoride component of said catalyst possessing a lower level of said catalytically less active complexes than that possessed by the metal fluoride component of said partially deactivated catalyst.

In an isomerization process which comprises contacting a feedstock containing a component selected from the group consisting of acyclic hydrocarbons having at least four carbon atoms, alicyclic hydrocarbons having at least six carbon atoms and mixtures thereof, with a substantially liquid phase catalyst comprising a metal fluoride selected from the group consisting of tantalum pentafluoride, niobium pentafluoride and mixtures thereof in combination with at least an equal molar amount of hydrogen fluoride, thereby forming a hydrocarbon phase andd a catalyst phase, said catalyst phase having become at least partially deactivated due to the formation of catalytically less active complexes with at least a portion of said metal fluoride, the improvement which comprises recovering at least a portion of the metal fluoride component of said catalyst by contact with hydrogen at a temperature in the range of from about 100.degree. to about 500.degree. C. and at a hydrogen partial pressure in the range of from about 1 to about 500 atmospheres for a period of time sufficient to obtain the metal fluoride component of said catalyst possessing a lower level of said catalytically less active complexes than that possessed by the metal fluoride component of the partially deactivated catalyst.

In an alkylation process which comprises contacting a feedstock containing a component selected from the group consisting of acyclic hydrocarbons having at least one carbon atom, alicyclic hydrocarbons having at least 5 carbon atoms, aromatic hydrocarbons, alkyl aromatic hydrocarbons and mixtures thereof, and olefins containing from 2 to about 12 carbon atoms per molecule, with a substantially liquid phase catalyst comprising a metal fluoride selected from the group consisting of tantalum pentafluoride, niobium pentafluoride and or mixtures thereof, in combination with at least an equal molar amount of hydrogen fluoride, thereby forming a hydrocarbon phase and a catalyst phase, said catalyst having become at least partially deactivated due to the formation of catalytically less active complexes with at least a portion of said metal fluoride, the improvement which comprises recovering at least a portion of the metal fluoride component of said catalyst by contact with hydrogen at a temperature in the range of from about 100.degree. to about 500.degree. C. and at a hydrogen partial presure in the range of from about 1 to about 500 atmospheres for a period of time sufficient to obtain a catalyst possessing a lower level of said catalytically less active complexes than that possessed by the metal fluoride component of the partially deactivated catalyst.