Liquid catalyst for hydrocarbon conversion reactions
AssigneeExxon Research & Engineering Co.
InventorDan A. Farcasiu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A liquid catalyst for hydrocarbon conversion reactions and a method for reacting hydrocarbons employing such catalyst is provided by the present invention. The liquid catalyst includes a strong liquid acid such as sulfuric acid or trifluoromethanesulfonic acid and an ion-stabilizing agent such as hexafluoroisopropanol or trifluoroacetic acid. The liquid catalyst has a significantly higher Bronsted acidity than the strong liquid Bronsted acid alone. When the liquid catalyst is used to catalyze the transalkylation of alkylbenzene, for example, the rate of transalkylation is from 2 to 3 times greater than using the strong liquid acid alone.
Claims6
A process for the transalkylation of alkyl benzenes which comprises contacting an alkylbenzene containing feed with a liquid acid catalyst comprising (i) a protonic acid selected from the group consisting of trifluoromethane sulfonic acid and sulfuric acid and (ii) an ion-stabilizing agent selected from the group consisting of hexafluoroisopranol and trifluoroacetic acid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.