Patent ID: 7781634

Claim:
A process for the alkylation of isobutane comprising: (a) feeding (1) isobutane and (2) C 4 olefins contained in an overheads from a debutanizer to an alkylation reactor wherein isobutane is reacted with C 4 olefins to form a dilute alkylate product containing alkylate and unreacted isobutane; (b) feeding the dilute alkylate product to the debutanizer; (c) feeding a C 4 olefin stream containing aromatic compounds to the debutanizer; (d) removing a C 4 stream substantially free of aromatic compounds from the debutanizer as overheads; (e) removing alkylate product and the aromatic compounds from the debutanizer as bottoms; and (f) feeding the overheads to the alkylation reactor.