Patent ID: 8414851

Claim:
An apparatus for alkylating benzene with ethylene comprising: a fluid catalytic cracking reactor for contacting cracking catalyst with a hydrocarbon feed stream to crack the hydrocarbon feed to cracked products having lower molecular weight and deposit coke on the cracking catalyst to provide coked cracking catalyst; a regenerator for combusting coke from said coked cracking catalyst by contact with oxygen; a separator in communication with said fluid catalytic cracking reactor for separating C 3 hydrocarbons from C 2 hydrocarbons to provide a dilute ethylene stream; a reforming reactor for contacting a naphtha stream with reforming catalyst to produce a reformate stream; and an alkylation reactor in communication with said separator and said reforming reactor for alkylating benzene in said reformate stream with ethylene in said dilute ethylene stream over a fixed bed of alkylation catalyst to heavier alkyl benzene hydrocarbons, wherein no fractionation column is in communication between said reforming reactor and said alkylation reactor and no benzene recycle line comprising unreacted benzene is in communication with the alkylation reactor.