Patent ID: 8334419

Claim:
In a process for the alkylation of a feedstock which comprises benzene and propylene to form an alkylation product which comprises cumene and polyalkylated products including diisopropylbenzenes in which said process comprises contacting said feedstock with a catalyst composition comprising crystalline MCM-56 zeolite and an alumina binder in at least partial liquid phase under alkylation conditions to form said alkylation product, said alkylation conditions including a temperature of from about 0° C. to about 500° C., a pressure of from about 20 to about 25000 kPa-a, a molar ratio of benzene to propylene of from about 0.1:1 to about 50:1, and a feed weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) based on propylene of from about 0.1 to about 500 hr −1 , the improvement comprising conducting said process in the presence of said catalyst composition having a ratio of crystal/binder of from about 40/60 to about 60/40; wherein the diisopropylbenzene to cumene selectivity is less than about 10% by weight; and wherein said polyalkylated products are separated from the alkylation product and reacted with additional feedstock in the liquid phase over a transalkylation catalyst which comprise one of or a mixture of crystalline molecular sieves having the structure of zeolite Beta, zeolite Y, mordenite or an MCM-22 family material having an X-ray diffraction pattern including d-spacing maxima at 12.4±0.25, 0.69±0.15, 3.57±0.07 and 3042±0.07 Angstroms.