Patent ID: 7339088

Claim:
A process for refining an alkylbenzene stream, which stream comprises alkylbenzene of 15 to 25 carbon atoms, alkane, benzene and heavies comprising: a. separating by distillation at least about 99.5 percent of the benzene contained in said stream to provide a first overhead comprising benzene and a first bottoms stream comprising alkylbenzene, alkane and heavies, b. separating by distillation at least about 90 weight percent of the alkane contained in said first bottoms stream to provide a second overhead comprising alkane and a second bottoms stream comprising alkylbenzene and heavies and a reduced amount of alkane, c. separating by distillation at least about 60 weight percent of the heavies from the second bottoms stream to provide a third overhead comprising alkylbenzene and a third bottoms stream comprising heavies, and d. separating by distillation alkylbenzene from a fourth distillation composition comprising the third overhead, said distillation providing a fourth overhead comprising alkylbenzene and lights; a fourth bottoms stream comprising alkylbenzene and heavies; and a mid-cut containing alkylbenzene and less than about 1 ppm by weight benzene and less than about 50 ppm by weight heavies.