AM-00-20 MEETING GROWING ALKYLATE DEMAND WITH ALKYLENE™ TECHNOLOGY

Description:

Alkylate is becoming an increasingly valuable gasoline blending component as a result of more stringent clean gasoline requirements. Until recently, alkylate has been produced using the liquid acid catalysts, HF or sulfuric acid. New developments now make it possible to produce high quality alkylate cost effectively using a solid catalyst. Alkylate produced from light (C3-C5) olefins using the Alkylene™ solid catalyst alkylation process now meets or exceeds alkylate quality from conventional liquid acid processes at competitive operating and investment costs. The safety and convenience of using a solid catalyst makes Alkylene a superior technology to liquid acid alkylation and an ideal choice for revamping existing alkylation units. This paper includes a case study for the revamp of an existing HF alkylation unit to an Alkylene unit to increase the safety of the operation. A second case study evaluates a new grassroots Alkylene unit.