Patent ID: 8373014

Claim:
An alkylation process for the alkylation of a hydrocarbon, the alkylation process comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of moving bed radial flow reactors, the plurality of moving bed radial flow a reactors including: a first moving bed radial flow reactor including a first outer annulus, a first centerpipe having a first centerpipe outlet, and a first reaction zone containing catalyst; and a second moving bed radial flow reactor including a second outer annulus, a second centerpipe having a second centerpipe outlet, and a second reaction zone containing catalyst; transferring catalyst from the first reaction zone of the first moving bed radial flow reactor to the second reaction zone of the second moving bed radial flow reactor through at least two catalyst transfer pipes; passing a hydrocarbon feed stream comprising an alkylation substrate and a first portion of an alkylating agent feed stream to a first mixer that produces a first reactor feed stream; passing the first reactor feed stream to the first outer annulus which flows radially inward through the first reaction zone towards the first centerpipe and undergoes an alkylation reaction to produce a first reactor effluent stream which is removed through the first centerpipe outlet; passing the first reactor effluent stream and a second portion of the alkylating agent feed stream to a second mixer that produces a second reactor feed stream, the first reactor effluent stream having a pressure at the second mixer inlet that is lower than a pressure of the first reactor effluent stream when it is removed from the first centerpipe; and passing the second reactor feed stream to the second reactor, the second reactor feed stream having a pressure that is lower than the pressure of the first reactor effluent stream at the second mixer inlet, wherein the second reactor feed stream is received by the second outer annulus and flows radially inward through the second reaction zone towards the second centerpipe and undergoes an alkylation reaction to produce a second reactor effluent stream which is removed from the second reactor through the second centerpipe outlet; wherein the reactor feed streams and the reactor effluent streams are in a liquid phase; wherein the second reactor effluent stream is divided into a circulation portion and a reaction portion; passing the circulation portion to the first mixer; and flowing the reaction portion to a third mixer without requiring a pump or raise in pressure and mixing with a third portion of an alkylating agent feed stream to produce a reactor feed stream to next reactor.