A New Era for Alkylation

In September 2016, Honeywell UOP introduced the refining industry’s first new liquid alkylation technology in 75 years. ISOALKY^TM technology offers refiners the ability to produce alkylate using a specialized ionic liquid catalyst with lower handling risks and comparable process and economic performance to traditional hydrofluoric or sulfuric acid technologies.

Researchers have assumed ionic liquids could be useful in industrial applications, but so far there has been limited success harnessing their potential as catalysts on a commercial scale. The ISOALKY process solution is successful on a commercial scale because the catalyst, a chloroaluminate ionic liquid with a proprietary composition, has finely tuned acidity to avoid undesirable cracking, isomerization, and heavy by-product formation, as well as properties that allow low inventory, low consumption, efficient separation, and easy on-site regeneration.

Chevron Corp., one of the world’s leading integrated energy companies and Honeywell UOP’s alliance partner for ISOALKY technology, is converting the existing hydrofluoric acid alkylation unit at its Salt Lake City refinery into the first alkylation unit in the US based on ionic liquid technology. ISOALKY technology takes ionic liquids a step closer to becoming mainstream in industrial applications, and can have a significant effect on global production of clean fuels using a process with lower environmental impact.