Sulfuric acid alkylation of isobutane with olefins in a microemulsion medium in the presence of dimethyldioctadecyl ammonium salt

The formation of Winsor III microemulsion in concentrated H 2 SO 4 + C4-C6 alkanes system was detected for the first time with the addition of a quaternary ammonium salt, dimethyl-dioctadecyl-ammonium chloride (C 18 H 37 ) 2 N + (CH 3 ) 2 Cl - , as a surfactant. The effect of this microemulsion formation on the parameters of the sulfuric acid alkylation reaction of isobutane (iB) with 1-butene (1b) and 1-pentene (1p) was studied. The addition of only 0.03 wt. % of surfactant to H 2 SO 4 resulted in a sharp change in many process parameters relative to the process using pure H 2 SO 4 : an increase in isobutane conversion by 1.5-2 times, the yield of C8 products by olefin up to 2 times, and the RON reaching 100 points. Using the NMR method, it was determined that after the alkylation reaction of isobutane with 1-butene in the presence of a microemulsion, the amount of acid-soluble oils (ASO) formed decreases by 15-20 times compared to unmodified acid.