Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol.12, No.3, 379-383, 2004
Synthesis of linear alkylbenzene in a novel liquid-solid circulating moving bed reactor
For the alkylation of benzene with long-chain olefins, using Hbeta zeolite catalyst as replacement of HF or AlCl3 has the advantages of no corrosion, less environmental pollution, and much more 2-phenyl isomer, which has the highest biodegradability and solubility, and better detergent properties among the related isomers. The characterization of the coke shows that the deactivation of catalyst is caused by the jam of bulkier molecules, such as naphthalene, indane and linear alkylbenzenes, which are too big to move quickly in the intracrystalline pores of catalyst. The deactivated catalyst can be regenerated by benzene washing at higher temperature. To make the processes of reaction and regeneration continuous, a novel moving bed reactor is developed. Comparing with the processes with fixed bed reactors, the processes in this work have the advantages of continuous operation, low temperature, low pressure, low mole ratio of benzene to olefins, and high weight hourly space velocity.