Alkylation
Alkylation
P RASH AN T SO N I
12 OIL 100 5
Introduction
In alkylation process, olefins are reacted with
isoparaffins to yield alkylate product.
The basic purpose of alkylation is to enhance the octane
number of the feed stock.
For example, octane number of butane alkylate is about
92 97. This is due to the formation of a hydrocarbon
with side chain arrangement of carbon and hydrogen
atoms.
Reaction Mechanism
Three basic reaction steps to achieve alkylation
Step 1 : involving Carbonium ion formation: In this
reaction, alkene reacts with a proton (acid catalyst) to
produce a proton substituted olefin. The proton
substituted olefin reacts with isoparaffin to generate a
reactive carbonium ion and alkane.
Alkylation unit
HF process outline
HF process technology
Licensors of motor fuel HF Alkylation processes are UOP LLCand
Phillips
The feed is first subjected to drying followed by pre-cooling.
impeller reactors are used, the reactor consists of cooling tubes to
absorb the heat generated.
the reaction products enters a settler where oil and the HF are
separated
A HF stripper is used to remove the HF in lower quantities from the
alkylate product.
Finally n-butane + alkylate is produced as the bottom product, and
the alkylate product is sent to a deisobutanizer and depropanizer
units
References
Gary J.H., Handwerk G.E., Petroleum Refining:
Technology and Economics, Taylor & Francis, 2005
Jones D.S.J., Elements of Petroleum Processing, John
Wiley & Sons, 1995