Production of High-Octane Fuel Components by Dehydroalkylation of Benzene with Mixtures of Ethane and Propane

The production of superior fuel components from natural gas was studied using a feed stream comprising ethane, propane, and benzene. For a better understanding of the different reactions occurring, product distributions of more simple reaction networks with only two of the three components are also presented. The dehydroalkylation reaction was conducted over a Pt–H-MFI catalyst at temperatures between 300 and 400 °C and a pressure of 6 bar. Three reaction cycles were conducted with intermittent regeneration with hydrogen to remove coke deposits. The research octane number of the received liquid fraction was calculated as a measure of quality of the produced alkylaromatic fuel components. The research octane number of the liquid fraction could be increased from 99 to at least 103 via dehydroalkylation with a mixture of cheap and abundant alkanes from natural gas.