Exxonmobil Chemical Patents Inc.

Mobil Oil Corporation

Exxonmobil Corporation

Ronald A Weiss

Chaya R Venkat

Yun-Yang Huang

John P McWilliams

Thomas Francis Degnan, Jr

Thomas F Degnan

Gregory P Muldowney

John R Green

Julian A Wolfenbarger

John P Mcwilliams

Thomas Francis Degnan

A process is described for removing polar compounds from an aromatic feedstock which contains polar compounds. The process comprises contacting the feedstock in an adsorption zone at a temperature of less than or equal to 130&deg; C. with an adsorbent selective for the adsorption of said polar compounds and comprising a molecular sieve having surface cavities with cross-sectional dimensions greater than 5.6 Angstroms. A treated feedstock substantially free of said polar compounds can then be fed to an alkylation zone for contact under liquid phase alkylation conditions with an alkylating agent in the presence of an alkylation catalyst.

Removal of polar contaminants from aromatic feedstocks

A process is described for removing polar compounds from an aromatic feedstock which contains polar compounds and which is then used in an alkylation process. The process comprises contacting the feedstock in an adsorption zone at a temperature of less than or equal to 130&deg; C. with an adsorbent selective for the adsorption of said polar compounds and comprising a molecular sieve having pores and/or surface cavities with cross-sectional dimensions greater than 5.6 Angstroms. A treated feedstock substantially free of said polar compounds is withdrawn from the adsorption zone and fed to an alkylation zone for contact under liquid phase alkylation conditions with an alkylating agent in the presence of an alkylation catalyst.

Removable of polar contaminants from aromatic feedstocks

Akylation product is contacted with a purification medium in a liquid phase pre-reaction step to remove impurities and form a purified stream. The purified stream may then be further processed by liquid phase transalkylation to convert the polyalkylated aromatic compound to a monoalkylated aromatic compound. The process may use a large pore molecular sieve catalyst such as MCM-22 as the purification medium in the pre-reaction step because of its high reactivity for alkylation, strong retention of catalyst poisons and low reactivity for oligomerization under the pre-reactor conditions. Olefins, diolefins, styrene, oxygenated organic compounds, sulfur containing compounds, nitrogen containing compounds and oligomeric compounds are removed.

Aromatic alkylation process

A distributor system for uniformly directing vapor and liquid across the surface of a fixed bed of solids in a downflow reactor comprising a distributor tray, and a plurality of open-ended downpipes extending through the tray. A first array of the downpipes has a plurality of vertically spaced elevations of holes above the level of the tray. A second array of the downpipes has at least one elevation of holes at substantially the same height above the level of the tray as one of the upper elevations of holes in the first array of the downpipes. But, the second array has no elevation of holes corresponding to the lowermost elevation of holes, and possibly other lower elevations of holes, in the first array of downpipes. The absence of the lowermost holes in the second array of downpipes causes the liquid flow rate through the distributor tray at a given liquid height to be reduced when that liquid height falls below the elevation of the holes second from the bottom in the first array. This maximizes the liquid height above the lowermost holes, preserving good distribution even when the distributor is subject to variations in level from one point to another.

Two-phase distributor system for downflow reactors

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Flemington, NJ, United States of America

Ronald A Weiss