Zeolitic Solid Acid Catalysts for the Alkylation of Isoparaffins with Olefins

通过烷基化过程，较轻的异构烷烃可以与小烯烃结合，生产更重、更高辛烷值的汽油成分。轻质异构烷烃(通常是异丁烷)与烯烃(通常是丁烯或丙烯)的烷基化反应是炼油厂生产高辛烷值汽油组分的重要过程。目前使用硫酸或氟化氢作为催化剂，根据具体条件和要求进行选择。环境和安全压力正迫使炼油商用更无害、更环保的材料取代腐蚀性、有毒或危险的材料。硫酸工艺会产生一种需要处理的危险污泥。产生有毒蒸汽云的爆炸危险使HF工艺变得不可取。因此，人们正在开发利用固体酸催化剂进行烷基化反应的新的催化路线。虽然各种沸石分子筛已被用作异丁烷与丁烯(或丙烯)反应的潜在催化剂，但还没有出现可行的工业工艺，主要是因为通过结焦导致催化剂失活的速度快得令人无法接受。PIS将合成和修饰一些具有高活性和低结焦速率的潜在活性沸石催化剂，并将对反应动力学和结焦特性进行研究。然后，他们将选择最有希望的催化剂，并进行详细的反应器设计分析，以确定最理想的工艺配置。

Through the process of alkylation, lighter isoparaffins can be combined with small olefins to produce heavier, higher octane gasoline components. This alkylation of light isoparaffins, typically isobutane, with olefins, typically butenes or propylene, to produce high octane gasoline components, is an important process in refinery operation. It is currently carried out with either sulfuric acid or hydrogen fluoride as the catalyst, the choice depending on specific conditions and requirement. Environmental and safety pressures are forcing refiners to replace corrosive, toxic or hazardous materials with more benign and environmentally acceptable materials. The sulfuric acid process produces a hazardous sludge which needs to be disposed of. The explosion hazard with resulting toxic vapor cloud makes the HF process undesirable. New catalytic routes for alkylation utilizing solid acid catalysts are therefore being developed. While various zeolites have been studied as potential catalysts for the reaction of isobutane with butenes (or propylene), no viable commercial process has yet emerged primarily because of the unacceptably rapid rate of catalyst deactivation through coking. The PIs will synthesize and modify a number of potentially viable zeolite catalysts with the properties of high reactivities and low coking rates, and will carry out a study of the reaction kinetics and coking characteristics. They will then select the most promising catalyst, and perform a detailed reactor design analysis in order to identify the most desirable process configuration.