Benzene alkylation with long chain olefins catalyzed by ionic liquids: a review

Abstract

The introduction of ionic liquids to alkylation process gives a choice for “green production” in the petrochemical and detergent industry. A lot of papers and patents have been published using chloroaluminate ionic liquid as a novel catalyst for alkylation with high reactivity and easy separation from reactants. These included the acidity, characterization, determination and catalysis technologies in batch and continuous operation mode for different scales. According to published data and several results of pilot alkylation,including the authors’ experience,the prospect of chloroaluminate ionic liquids for commercials was also discussed. It has been pointed out that there still are many difficulties and challenges to be overcome for commercial application of the ionic liquid catalyst.

Keywords

chloroaluminate / ionic liquid / alkylation / benzene / long chain olefins alkylbenzene