Phillips Petroleum Company

Nak J Sung

Fan-Nan Lin

Stephen L Ege

Thomas A Lessard

In a process for isomerizing saturated C.sub.4- C.sub.10 hydrocarbons (preferably n-pentane) in the presence of a platinum/zeolite catalyst, wherein sulfur compounds are present in the feed as impurities and cause catalyst deactivating, at least one volatile chlorine compound (preferably tetrachloroethylene or carbon tetrachloride) is added to the feed in an amount sufficient to counteract the catalyst deactivation. A correlation between effective amounts of chloride additive(s) required to counteract the catalyst deactivating effect caused by specific sulfur compound(s) and a specific parameter of various sulfur compounds has been established. The water content in the isomerization feed is not to exceed about 60 ppm H.sub.2 O (based on the weight of the at least one feed hydrocarbons.

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Bartlesville, OK, United States of America

Nak J Sung