Patent ID: 8772035

Claim:
A process for controlling ionic liquid catalyst activity in a reaction producing by-product conjunct polymers, comprising: (a) using an ionic liquid catalyst in a reaction producing by-product conjunct polymers; (b) collecting samples of the ionic liquid catalyst at regular intervals; (c) hydrolyzing the samples to provide hydrolyzed samples; (d) titrating the hydrolyzed samples with a basic reagent selected from the group consisting of potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, rubidium hydroxide, cesium hydroxide, and barium hydroxide until the basic reagent neutralizes a Lewis acid species of the ionic liquid catalyst, as indicated by an inflection point in a titration curve, to determine a volume of the basic reagent necessary to neutralize the Lewis acid species of each sample; (e) calculating an acid content of the hydrolyzed samples from the volume of basic reagent determined in step (d); and (f) regenerating the ionic liquid catalyst when the acid content of the hydrolyzed samples reaches or falls below 80% of a fresh acid content of a fresh ionic liquid catalyst that has not been subject to deactivation, to provide a regenerated ionic liquid catalyst; and wherein the fresh acid content of the fresh ionic liquid catalyst is greater than 650 meq OH/q.