(65d) New Catalyst Innovations for Cumene Alkylation

The first UOP-designed zeolitic cumene unit has now been on stream for more than ten years. UOP continues to innovate and improve the cumene process technology. UOP has recently developed and commercialized two new zeolite catalyst systems for the Q-Max? process. The new catalysts, QZ 2500? for alkylation and QZ 2100? for transalkylation, offer greatly improved activity, stability, and product quality for the production of cumene compared to previous generation catalysts.

The impact of these developments on the cumene process technology is significant. Reloading existing units with the new catalysts has the potential to reduce operating costs by 10 to 20 %. In new unit installations, capital costs can be reduced by 5 to 10%. The paper will report on recent progress and results achieved to date utilizing the new technology.