Patent ID: 8269057

Claim:
A method for alkylating a hydrocarbon comprising at least one isoparaffin and at least one olefin, the method comprising: introducing liquid acid catalyst and the hydrocarbon into a high shear device comprising at least one rotor and at least one stator separated by a shear gap width, wherein the catalyst comprises an acid selected from the group consisting of hydrofluoric acid, BF 3 , SbF 5 , AlCl 3 , and combinations thereof; subjecting the mixture comprising the hydrocarbon and the acid to a shear rate of greater than about 20,000 s −1 to form an emulsion comprising droplets comprising hydrocarbon in a continuous acid phase, wherein the droplets have a mean diameter of less than about 5 μm; introducing the emulsion into a vessel operating under suitable alkylation conditions whereby at least a portion of the isoparaffin is alkylated with the olefin to form alkylate; and removing a product stream comprising alkylate from the vessel.