Patent ID: 7947232

Claim:
An HF alkylation reactor of the shell-and-tube heat exchanger type comprising a generally cylindrical reactor shell having: (i) a tubehead at one end supporting an axial tube bundle of U-shaped cooling tubes for passing cooling water through the interior of the reactor to provide cooling for the reactor; (ii) an acid inlet for HF alkylation acid at the end remote from the tubehead; (iii) an effluent outlet for alkylation reaction products at the end remote from the acid inlet; (iv) a plurality of baffles within the reactor shell arranged transversely to the axis of the reactor shell which have alternately along the axis of the reactor shell (a) central flow apertures located inside the tube bundle in each alternate baffle and (b) peripheral flow passages around the circumference of each baffle and outside the tube bundle to define an extended fluid flow path for reactants from one end of the shell to the other and (v) an axial sparger system for injecting hydrocarbon alkylation reactant into the reactor shell, the sparger system comprising a reactant supply tube extending longitudinally in the reactor shell and located at the axis of the generally cylindrical reactor shell, the supply tube having outlet nozzles for hydrocarbon alkylation reactant at axially spaced locations along the supply tube to direct the hydrocarbon reactants into the fluid flow path orthogonally to the axis of the supply tube with at least one axially located set of nozzles is disposed between each pair of transverse baffles.