Hao Ma,Rui Zhang,Xianghai Meng,Zhichang Liu,Haiyan Liu,Chunming Xu,Rentan Chen,Peter A. A. Klusener,Jan de With
Composite ionic liquid (CIL) prepared from triethylamine hydrochloride, anhydrous aluminum(III) chloride, and cuprous chloride is a new catalyst for isobutane alkylation. This composite ionic liquid alkylation (CILA) technology yields an alkylate with favorable product distribution. CILA is a promising replacement for sulfuric acid and hydrofluoric acid alkylation technologies. However, some solids are formed during alkylation, and solid amount increases with time on stream. In a number of separation steps, the used CIL was divided into liquid and solid. Nuclear magnetic resonance, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and elemental analyses were applied to characterize these fractions. The content of acid-soluble oil (ASO) in solid was also investigated. The results showed that the solid was mainly cuprous chloride and contained about 1 wt % ASO. The loss of aluminum chloride and detachment of CuCl as a form of solid from CIL resulted in the decrease of CIL acidity and product selectivity.
Waste H 2 SO 4 from industrial isobutane alkylation, a hazardous thick liquid with a high concentration of acid soluble oil (ASO) impurities, poses challenges in the regeneration process. Herein, an innovative low-temperature carbonization process was proposed to convert waste H 2 SO 4 into the regenerated concentrated H 2 SO 4 and sulfonated activated carbon materials (SACMs) under mild reaction conditions. The optimal reaction temperature is identified at 423.15 K with the highest TOC removal of 90.57%. The high-purity regenerated H 2 SO 4 with a concentration of 95% as a catalyst for isobutane alkylation exhibits excellent catalytic performance with 94.54 research octane number (RON) of the alkylate. SACMs, characterized as a novel porous carbon material with plentiful hydroxyl, carboxylic acid, and sulfonic acid functional groups, demonstrate an efficient catalytic activity in the dimerization of lactic acid to produce lactide with a yield of 46.95%. Hopefully, the novel recovery process provides a promising application to optimize the regeneration process of waste H 2 SO 4 from industrial isobutane alkylation.