Process for the preparation of an isobutane/isohexane containing product

Abstract: Process for the preparation of an isobutane/isohexane containing product comprising passing an isopentane feed to a disproportion stage and disproportionating the isopentane feed in the presence of olefinic and/or higher branched paraffinic hydrocarbons by contact with an acid catalyst having an acidity of H o >8 at a temperature of between 0°C and 150°C and withdrawing an isobutane/isohexane containing product.

Description: The present invention concerns the preparation of isobutane and isohexane containing products. More particular, the invention relates to a process for the preparation of the those products by disproportionation of an isopentane feedstock in the presence of olefinic or branched-chain paraffinic hydrocarbons and an acid catalyst. Disproportionation of saturated hydrocarbons is a well-known reaction step in the isomerization of normal hydrocarbons to isoparaffins during petroleum refining. Isoparaffins have a higher octane number than normal paraffins, and are, therefore, preferred components in high octane gasoline products. During disproportionation reactions, a hydrocarbon feedstock is converted to a hydrocarbon product of higher and lower molecular weight. Disproportionation of lower paraffinic hydrocarbons to isoparaffinic hydrocarbons is mentioned in U.S. Patent No. 3,668,269. At the disclosed process, paraffinic hydrocarbon feed is contacted with a solid acidic catalyst comprising a platinum-group metal on a crystalline aluminosilicate. The product obtained thereby contains isoparaffin-hydrocarbons with one more and one less carbon atoms per molecule than the hydrocarbon feed. Production of isopentane by disproportionation of C 6 alkanes with a catalyst comprising a Group VIII metal and a Group VIB metal is, furthermore, disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 3,766,292. It is also known to use AlCl 3 on an aluminum support or alkyl fluoride and BF 3 as promoters in the disproportionation of saturated hydrocarbons. The general object of this invention is to provide a product being rich in isobutane and isohexane by catalytic disproportionation of isopentane feed. As mentioned by way of introduction, isoparaffins including isopentane are presently preferred components in high octane gasoline products. However, recent requirements to lower vapour pressure of gasoline, makes it necessary to substitute isoparaffins having a high vapour pressure with components of lower vapour pressure in gasoline. Since isopentane may be disproportionated to isohexanes with a lower vapour pressure and to isobutane, which is a preferred feedstock in alkylation processes for the production of high octane alkylate gasoline and MTBE, it is desirable to substitute isopentane in gasoline. It has now been found that disproportionation of isopentane is catalyzed by a strong acid, and the reaction is further promoted by the presence of olefins or higher paraffins, which crack to olefins by influence of a strong acid. Accordingly, the present invention relates to process for the preparation of an isobutane/isohexane containing product, which process comprises passing an isopentane feed to a disproportion stage, and disproportionating the isopentane feed in the presence of olefinic and/or C 10 -C 30 branched paraffinic hydrocarbons by contact with an acid catalyst having an acidity of H o >8 at a temperature of between 0°C and 150°C to obtain the isobutane/isohexane containing product. High yield of desired isobutane and isohexanes is obtained with acids having an acidity of sulphuric acid or higher. The acid may be a Brønsted or a Lewis acid. Presently, preferred acids are selected from the group of fluorinated sulphonic acids most preferred is trifluoromethanesulphonic acid. An attractive feature of the invention is utilization of higher branched-chain paraffins in the disproportionation process. These paraffins are byproducts being formed during e.g. production of alkylate gasoline. The carbon number of these paraffins will typically be in the range of between C 10 to C 30 , which by contact with the acid used in the disproportionation step crack to olefinic hydrocarbons. Olefinic hydrocarbons promote the isopentane disproportionation presumably by protonation of the olefins to carbenium ions and reaction of the carbenium ions with isopentane to form an iso-C 10 -carbenium ion, which finally is converted to isobutane and isohexanes. The isopentane disproportionation rate is, thereby, proportional with the olefin content in the reaction stage. High concentrations of olefins, however, result in the formation of higher molecular weight paraffinic hydrocarbon byproducts. Thus, a preferred concentration range of olefinic and/or higher branch-chain paraffinic hydrocarbons in the process is between 0.1% and 50% by volume of the isopentane feed in the disproportionation stage. Examples In the Examples, a 6 meter 6.4 mm (¼") reactor tube packed with silica (Merck 100, 0.2-0.5 mm particle size) was used. The reactor tube was thermostated in a bath, and 6 ml trifluoromethanesulphonic acid were introduced into the reactor. A feed stream as specified in Table 1 below, was passed on at a flow rate of 5 ml/min. and at a temperature of between 0°C and 40°C through the packed reactor. Further process parameters and results obtained thereby are summarized in Table 1. Isopentane Disproportionation Example 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Concentrattions in % (w/w) Feed: Isopentane 96 96 96 96 96 97 79.5 78 Propylene 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.4 2-butene 4.0 3.7 1-pentene 3.0 C8 0.1 0.1 C9 2.0 1.7 C10+ 18.3 15.9 Temperature 0 20 30 40 40 40 40 40 Product C3 1.45 1.25 1.26 1.26 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 C4 4.41 5.79 6.47 8.49 9.97 6.90 4.30 9.13 C5 79.66 77.07 74.52 68.84 71.21 77.31 75.23 52.52 C6 4.09 5.16 6.42 8.29 9.52 7.32 3.83 7.92 C7 1.29 1.66 2.04 2.51 1.33 1.26 0.61 2.33 C8 2.57 2.99 3.24 3.98 0.79 0.40 0.51 2.08 C9 3.05 3.09 3.18 3.60 5.44 4.61 2.63 8.69 C10+ 3.47 3.00 2.88 3.02 1.73 2.21 12.22 17.33

Claims: Process for the preparation of an isobutane/isohexane containing product comprising passing an isopentane feed to a disproportion stage and disproportionating the isopentane feed in presence of olefinic and/or C 10 -C 30 branched paraffinic hydrocarbons by contact with an acid catalyst having an acidity of Ho>8 at a temperature of between 0°C and 150°C and withdrawing an isobutane/isohexane containing product. The process of claim 1, wherein the olefinic hydrocarbons are selected from C 3 -C 6 olefinic hydrocarbons. The process of claim 1, wherein the olefinic and/or C 10 -C 30 branched paraffinic hydrocarbons constitute between 0.1 and 50% by volume of the isopentane feed in the disproportionation stage. The process of claim 1, wherein the acid catalyst comprises a fluorinated sulphonic acid. The process of claim 4, wherein the fluorinated sulphonic acid is trifluoromethanesulphonic acid.

Inventors: HOMMELTOFT SVEN IVAR, HOMMELTOFT, SVEN IVAR
Applicants: TOPSOE HALDOR AS, HALDOR TOPSOE A/S
Application year: 1995
Main classification: C07C9
IPC codes: C07C9, C07B61, C07C4, C07C6, B01J31