Sulfuric acid alkylation reactor system with static mixers

Abstract

A sulfuric acid-catalyzed alkylation reactor system is provided for alkylating isoparaffins with olefins to produce hydrocarbon alkylates. The reactor vessel has a vertical cylindrical wall, a top, an inverted conical bottom portion, internal perforated baffles and multiple emulsion injection inlet pipes, disposed tangentially to and communicating with the interior of the reactor vessel. The emulsion injection inlet pipes have static mixers incorporated therein and tangential injection of the emulsion imparts a circular motion to the contents of the reactor vessel, resulting in partial phase separation of the reacted products. The reactor vessel communicates with a settling vessel through a transfer pipe having a vertical portion suspended within the central portion of the reactor vessel and a horizontal portion sealably extending through the cylindrical wall of the reactor vessel. The transfer pipe has a first end near the conical bottom portion of the reactor vessel and a second end at a top portion of the settling vessel. The reactor system enables a sulfuric-acid catalyzed reaction of olefins with isoparaffins utilizing static mixing of the reactants, and minimizing leakage of the reactants to the environment.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.