Patent ID: 7223898

Claim:
A process for the isomerization of a feedstream comprising C 5 –C 6 hydrocarbons said process comprising: charging hydrogen and a feedstream comprising at least normal C 5 –C 6 hydrocarbons into an isomerization zone and contacting said hydrogen and feedstream with an isomerization catalyst at isomerization conditions to increase the branching of the feedstream hydrocarbons and produce an isomerization effluent stream comprising at least butane, normal pentane, normal hexane, methylbutane, dimethylbutanes, methylpentanes and hydrocarbons having seven or more carbon atoms; passing the isomerization zone effluent to a deisohexanizer zone to separate four streams, a deisohexanizer zone overhead stream comprising at least butane, a first deisohexanizer zone sidecut stream comprising at least methylbutane and dimethylbutanes, a second deisohexanizer zone sidecut stream comprising at least methylpentanes and normal hexane, and a deisohexanizer zone bottoms stream comprising at least hydrocarbons having seven or more carbon atoms; and passing the first deisohexanizer zone sidecut stream to an isomerate stripper zone to separate an isomerate stripper zone overhead stream comprising at least butane from an isomerate stripper zone product stream containing methylbutane and dimethylbutanes.