Alkylation reaction: isopentane plus propylene in the presence of concentrated sulfuric acid (in German)
The alkylation reaction mentioned above was originally not as well thought of as the standard alkylation reaction involving isobutane and butylene, because of the fact that (1) not so much pentane as butane was available, (2) pentane could be used as itself in gasoline, (3) the use of propylene was not very advantageous, and (4) the product had a rather low octane number (70 to 71 by motor method). The series of experiments reported here were intended to investigate a wider range of conditions for the reaction than previously investigated, in order to see if it could be made more advantageous. Topics investigated included dependence of yield, product division and properties, and usage of sulfuric acid on temperature, throughput, reaction time, proportions of reactants, and concentration of acid. The mechanism of the reaction was apparently a condensation catalyzed by sulfuric acid, with the most predominant product (45%) being 2,4-dimethylhexane, indicating that the branch carbon on the isopentane joined with the middle carbon of the propylene. An interfering side reaction was one in which the propylene formed an unreactive ester with the sulfuric acid and was lost to the reaction. The side reaction could be minimized (to about 10% loss of propylene) by using a great excess of pentane (10:1 ratio or more). The optimum temperature range for the reaction seemed to be 25/sup 0/ to 30/sup 0/; below that too much acid was lost to ester, above that, too much polymerization and oxidation took place. The smallest attained usage of sulfuric acid was 0.71 kg H/sub 2/ SO/sub 4//kg alkylate. The yield in this run was 251 g alkylate/100 g propylene and the time--space yield was 0.11 kg alkylate/liter of reaction volume/hr. However, changes in reaction conditions seemed to cause little change in product characteristics. Since the octane number was still too low, and since usage of acid and propylene was too high, the experiments produced no improvement in outlook for the reaction.
- Research Organization:
- I.G. Farbenindustrie, A.G., Merseburg (Germany)
- OSTI ID:
- 6748598
- Report Number(s):
- TOM-301-1127-1145
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- German
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Related Subjects
ALKYLATION
CHEMICAL REACTION YIELD
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
GASOLINE
ANTIKNOCK RATINGS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PRODUCTION
OCTANE
PENTANE
PROPYLENE
SULFURIC ACID
CATALYTIC EFFECTS
DATA COMPILATION
DIAGRAMS
EQUIPMENT
EVALUATION
FLOW RATE
MEDIUM PRESSURE
MEDIUM TEMPERATURE
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS
ALKANES
ALKENES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
FUELS
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INORGANIC ACIDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
YIELDS
090121* - Hydrocarbon Fuels- Chemical Synthesis- (1976-1989)