Alkylation using supported boron trifluoride

Catalysts. Nearly aU. of the industrially significant aromatic alkylation processes of the past have been carried out in the Hquid phase with unsupported acid catalysts. For example, AlCl HF have been used commercially for at least one of the benzene alkylation processes to produce ethylbenzene (104), cumene (105), and detergent alkylates (80). Exceptions to this historical trend have been the use of a supported boron trifluoride for the production of ethylbenzene and of a soHd phosphoric acid (SPA) catalyst for the production of cumene (59,106). 

Patents assigned to Mobil (217) describe the use of boron trifluoride supported on several porous carriers. BF3 supported on silica was found to exhibit a slightly higher performance with added water in the alkylation of a mixed alkene feed at 273 K. It was also shown that self-alkylation activity was considerably lower than that with HF as catalyst. Another patent (218) describes the use of a pillared layered silicate, MCM-25, promoted with BF3 to give a high-quality alkylate at temperatures of about 273 K. BF3 was also supported on zeolite BEA, with adsorbed water still present (219). This composite catalyst exhibited low butene isomerization activity, which was evident from the inferior results obtained with 1-butene. At low reaction temperatures, the product quality was superior to that of HF alkylate. 

A similar type of catalyst including a supported noble metal for regeneration was described extensively in a series of patents assigned to UOP (209-214). The catalysts were prepared by the sublimation of metal halides, especially aluminum chloride and boron trifluoride, onto an alumina carrier modified with alkali or rare earth-alkali metal ions. The noble metal was preferably deposited in an eggshell concentration profile. An earlier patent assigned to Texaco (215) describes the use of chlorinated alumina in the isobutane alkylation with higher alkenes, especially hexenes. TMPs were supposed to form via self-alkylation. Fluorinated alumina and silica samples were also tested in isobutane alkylation,... 

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