Preparation of alkylaromatic hydrocarbons and alkylaryl sulfonates

A process for preparing an alkylaromatic hydrocarbon composition comprising the steps of:

• (a) oligomerizing an olefin selected from propylene, n-butene and mixtures thereof, over a catalyst comprising ZSM-23 and a surface deactivating agent, to form an oligomerization product comprising at least 95% by weight of mono-olefin oligomers of the empirical formula:
• CnH2n
• wherein n is greater than or equal to 10, wherein said mono-olefin oligomers comprise at least 20% by weight of olefins having at least 12 carbon atoms and said olefins having at least 12 carbon atoms have an average of from 0.8 to 2.0 C1-C3 alkyl branches per carbon chain;
• (b) contacting the oligomerization product and an aromatic compound under alkylation conditions with an aromatic alkylation catalyst comprising a molecular sieve having an X-ray diffraction pattern including d-spacing maxima at 12.4+0.25, 6.9+0.15, 3.57+0.07, and 3.42+0.07 Angstroms, said molecular sieve is selected from the group consisting of MCM-22, PSH-3, SSZ-25, ERB-1, ITQ-1, ITQ-2, MCM-36, MCM-49, and MCM-56,
• wherein the oligomerization product is not subject to any pretreatment other than to remove the surface deactivating agent prior to the contacting step.