Removable of polar contaminants from aromatic feedstocks

An aromatic alkylation process comprising:

• (a) contacting an aromatic feedstock containing polar compounds in an adsorption zone with an adsorbent selective for the adsorption of said polar compounds, said adsorbent comprising a molecular sieve selected from zeolite X, zeolite Y, or Ultrastable Y (USY), and said adsorption zone being at a temperature of less than or equal to 125° C.;
• (b) withdrawing from said adsorption zone a treated feedstock which is substantially free of said polar compounds;
• and
• (c) passing said treated feedstock to an alkylation zone containing an alkylation catalyst comprising a molecular sieve and contacting said treated feedstock with an alkylating agent in said alkylation zone under liquid phase alkylation conditions so as to produce an alkylated aromatic compound.

An aromatic alkylation process comprising:

• (a) contacting an aromatic feedstock containing polar compounds in an adsorption zone with an adsorbent selective for the adsorption of said polar compounds, said adsorbent comprising a molecular sieve selected from MCM-22, MCM49, MCM-56, zeolite X, zeolite Y, Ultrastable Y (USY), mordenite, zeolite beta, zeolite L, or zeolite omega and said adsorption zone being at a temperature of less than or equal to 125° C.;
• (b) withdrawing from said adsorption zone a treated feedstock which contains less than 0.1 ppm of said polar compounds;
• and
• (c) passing said treated feedstock to an alkylation zone containing an alkylation catalyst and contacting said treated feedstock with an alkylating agent in said alkylation zone under alkylation conditions so as to produce an alkylated aromatic compound.