Alkylation catalyst regeneration

An alkylation process, comprising the steps of:

• (a) mixing sulfolane having a concentration of water with HF to form a catalyst mixture comprising sulfone, water and HF;
• (b) contacting a hydrocarbon mixture, comprising olefins and isoparaffins, with said catalyst mixture within a reaction zone to thereby produce a reaction product and a reaction by-product;
• (c) separating said reaction product from said catalyst mixture within a first separation zone to produce a separated reaction product and a separated catalyst mixture with said separated catalyst mixture containing a portion of said reaction by-product;
• (d) passing a portion of said separated catalyst mixture to a second separation zone to thereby separate said portion of said separated catalyst mixture into a second separation zone overhead stream, comprising a portion of the HF component of said portion of said separated catalyst mixture and a portion of the water component of said portion of said separated catalyst mixture, and a second separation zone bottoms stream, comprising a portion of the sulfolane component of said portion of said separated catalyst mixture and a portion of the reaction by-product component of said portion of said separated catalyst mixture;
• (e) utilizing a remaining portion of said separated catalyst mixture as a portion of said catalyst mixture;
• (f) condensing said second separation zone overhead stream to produce a condensed second separation zone overhead stream;
• (g) utilizing a portion of said condensed second separation zone overhead stream as a portion of said catalyst mixture;
• and
• (h) passing a remaining portion of said condensed second separation zone overhead stream to downstream processing at a rate which is effective in maintaining a concentration of water in said separated catalyst mixture below about 10 weight percent.