Abstract
Alkylation of isobutane and 2-butene was carried out in a continuous unit using triethylamine hydrochloride (Et3NHCl)-aluminum chloride (AlCl3) ionic liquid (IL) as catalyst. The effects of impurities such as water, methanol, and diethyl ether on the stability of the catalytic properties and deactivation of the ionic liquid were studied in the continuous alkylation. In the Et3NHCl-2AlCl3 ionic liquid, only one half of the aluminum chloride could act as the active site. With a molar ratio of 1:1, the active aluminum chloride in the ionic liquid was deactivated by water by reaction or by diethyl ether through complexation while the complexation of aluminum chloride with two molecular proportions of methanol inactivated the active aluminum chloride in the ionic liquid. The deactivation of chloroaluminate ionic liquid was observed when the active aluminum chloride, i.e., one half of the total aluminum chloride in the ionic liquid, was consumed completely. The regeneration of the deactivated ionic liquid was also investigated and the catalytic activity could be recovered by means of replenishment with fresh aluminum chloride.
Highlights
To minimize the negative environmental effects from automobile fuels, increasing regulatory pressure is being imposed on oil refineries to reduce the blending amounts of some components in motor fuel such as aromatic hydrocarbons and methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE); the alkylation of isobutane and butene is becoming more important in petroleum refinery for producing isooctane, which has high octane numbers, exhibits clean burning characteristics and can be used as the ideal additive for new formula gasoline
In this work, the effects of water on the catalytic performances of the ionic liquid, i.e., the lifetime, the activity, and isooctane selectivity, were investigated in continuous alkylation by means of the study on the mass of a feedstock treated with 1 g ionic liquid and the component of the alkylation products
When the content of methanol in the feedstock increased from 0 ppmw to 800 ppmw ppmw and 1740 ppmw, the mass of feedstock treated by 1 g ionic liquid decreased from 109 g to 70 g and 1740 ppmw, the mass of feedstock treated by 1 g ionic liquid decreased from 109 g to 70 g and and 49 g before deactivation of the ionic liquid
Summary
To minimize the negative environmental effects from automobile fuels, increasing regulatory pressure is being imposed on oil refineries to reduce the blending amounts of some components in motor fuel such as aromatic hydrocarbons and methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE); the alkylation of isobutane and butene is becoming more important in petroleum refinery for producing isooctane, which has high octane numbers, exhibits clean burning characteristics and can be used as the ideal additive for new formula gasoline. As is well known in the commercial alkylation unit, the feedstock (i.e., isobutane and butene) usually comes from the MTBE unit, the catalytic cracking process or ethylene plant It is contaminated with traces of water, methanol and ether inevitably because of the difficulty of separation. The influences of the impurities in the industrial feedstocks on the stability and lifetime of the very important properties of a catalyst, of the modified chloroaluminate ionic liquid have not been studied up to present. These researches could be of great importance for the future potential industrial application of ionic liquids in isobutane/2-butene alkylation. The regeneration of the deactivated ionic liquid was studied
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