Exxonmobil Research and Engineering Company

David B Spry

Jihad Mohammed Dakka

Matthew Scott Ide

Cynthia F Omilian

Guang Cao

Patrick Loring Hanks

Manuel S Alvarez

Jenna L Walp

Ralph C Dehaas

Jeffrey M Fitt

Sumod Kalakkunnath

Systems and methods are provided for production of high octane hydrocarbon from an isoparaffin feed using oxidation acid catalysis chemistry.

Production of high octane hydrocarbon from light alkane feed using oxidation and acid catalysis chemistry

Systems and methods are provided for forming alkylate from a tertiary alcohol feed. Olefins for the alkylation reaction can be generated from a portion of the tertiary alcohol feed. The tertiary alcohol feed can be obtained, for example, by selective oxidation to convert a portion of an isoparaffin-containing feed into alcohol, such as conversion of isobutane to t-butyl alcohol. The alcohol can then be converted to an alkene, such as conversion of t-butyl alcohol to isobutene, in the alkylation reaction environment in the presence of a solid acid catalyst. The solid acid catalyst can then facilitate dimerization of the alkenes (e.g. isobutene) to form Colefins (e.g. isooctene). A catalyst having an MWW framework is an example of a suitable solid acid catalyst.

Production of iso-octene from tertiary alcohols

An HF olefin/isoparaffin alkylation process is carried out in an alkylation unit with a settling vessel in which the alkylate product is separated from the HF acid catalyst containing water and acid soluble oil (ASO). The density of the liquids in the settling vessel is measured at different levels by means of a nuclear density profile analyzer. The acid strength of the acid phase is determined from the density measurement and an optional temperature measurement. The proportion of water in the acid phase may also be measured separately by measurement of its electrical conductivity to determine the respective contributions of the water and the ASO to the density of the HF acid phase.

HF alkylation process

Method of determining a total HF concentration metric in an environment including measuring an uncorrected HF concentration metric in the environment based on a first infrared absorption measurement at a wavelength corresponding to a vibrational frequency of a non-hydrogen bonded gas phase HF molecule; determining an ambient HO concentration metric in the environment available for reaction with the non-hydrogen bonded gas phase HF molecules at or about the time of obtaining the first infrared absorption measurement; calculating a HF hydrate concentration metric in the environment based on the uncorrected HF concentration metric, the ambient HO concentration metric and a reaction equilibrium relationship between the non-hydrogen bonded gas phase HF molecule and the HF hydrate; and determining the total HF concentration metric in the environment based on the uncorrected HF concentration metric and an amount of HF determined by the HF hydrate concentration metric.

Humidity and temperature corrections to improve accuracy of HF ambient air monitors based on tunable diode laser IR absorption measurements

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Lebanon, NJ, United States of America

David B Spry