Patent ID: 8920755

Claim:
A method for converting a sulfuric acid alkylation unit to an ionic liquid alkylation system, the method comprising: a) providing an ionic liquid specific sub-system comprising an ionic liquid alkylation reactor and an ionic liquid/hydrocarbon separation unit configured for separating an alkylation reactor effluent of the ionic liquid alkylation reactor into a hydrocarbon phase and an ionic liquid phase, wherein the ionic liquid/hydrocarbon separation unit comprises a primary separator vessel and an ionic liquid coalescer; b) connecting at least one component of the ionic liquid specific sub-system to at least one component of the sulfuric acid alkylation unit; c) connecting the primary separator vessel to the ionic liquid coalescer for feeding the hydrocarbon phase from the primary separator vessel to the ionic liquid coalescer; and d) connecting the ionic liquid coalescer to the fractionation unit for feeding the hydrocarbon phase from the ionic liquid coalescer to the fractionation unit.