Patent ID: 7550644

Claim:
A method of operating a fixed-bed alkylation reactor with reduced polymerization of olefin comprising: a) obtaining a feed stream containing isobutane; b) passing the feed stream into a flow channel wherein the flow channel defines a flow channel entrance region having no active alkylation catalyst positioned thereon, and a flow channel downstream region, the flow channel downstream region further defining a flow channel inner surface with an alkylation catalyst positioned on at least a portion of the flow channel inner surface thereby defining a transition point between the flow channel entrance region and the flow channel downstream region; c) injecting an olefin into said feed stream at a point beyond the transition point into the flow channel downstream region, whereby the olefin contacts the alkylation catalyst by diffusion to the flow channel inner surface thereby reacting isobutane with the olefin; and d) producing an alkylate product, wherein the reactor comprises a structural configuration monolith.