Patent ID: 8420877

Claim:
A method of producing an alkylaromatic by the alkylation of an aromatic with an alkylating agent, the method comprising: providing at least one reaction zone that comprises a preliminary alkylation reactor containing a preliminary alkylation catalyst, wherein the preliminary alkylation catalyst is a regenerated H-beta zeolite catalyst; wherein the at least one reaction zone further comprises a primary alkylation reactor that comprises an alkylation catalyst; introducing a feed stream comprising an aromatic and an alkylating agent to the at least one reaction zone; reacting at least a portion of the aromatic under alkylation conditions in the at least one reaction zone to produce an alkylaromatic; wherein the regenerated H-beta zeolite catalyst has at least 90% of a catalyst activity of a fresh H-beta zeolite; wherein the regenerated H-beta zeolite catalyst has a deactivation rate that is no more than 120% of the deactivation rate of a fresh H-beta zeolite catalyst; wherein the regenerated H-beta zeolite catalyst is regenerated by: heating the at least partially deactivated H-beta zeolite catalyst to a first temperature with a gas containing nitrogen; staging an oxygen content of the gas upward to about 2 mol. % or less oxygen to increase the temperature; staging the oxygen content of the gas upward to about 2.0 mol. % oxygen to maintain a catalyst regeneration temperature for a time sufficient to provide an output stream having an oxygen content of 0.2 mol. % or less; holding the at least partially deactivated H-beta zeolite catalyst at a second temperature for a period of time; and wherein the regenerated H-beta zeolite catalyst is regenerated by heating an at least partially deactivated H-beta zeolite catalyst to a temperature or a series of temperatures ranging from about 300° C. to about 600° C.