New Insights into the Progress on the Isobutane/Butene Alkylation Reaction and Related Processes for High-Quality Fuel Production. A Critical Review

Although research in renewables is growing at a tremendous rate, the world will still be greatly dependent on fossil fuels for at least the first half of this century. In the quest for more efficient and clean fuels, oil refining companies have turned their attention to processes such as reforming and alkylation technologies; in the latter process, isobutane is reacted with butenes and/or propylenes to produce, among others, branched isooctane, which is the main high-octane component of the gasoline pool. The main benefit of this process is the possibility to produce sulfur-free high-octane fuels, so important economic and environmental advantages are foreseen if investments in this area are realized. This Review analyzes and discusses the most recent progress on catalyst technologies, starting from the traditional sulfuric acid process and proceeding to newly emerging catalyst technologies such as solid acid and ionic liquid-based catalysts. We start with basic mechanistic analyses and conclude this Review with the new non-liquid acid-based commercial and emerging technologies for isobutane alkylation. Emphasis is given to the structure-activity relationships and the advantages and disadvantages present in every discussed catalyst material.