Aluminum halide recovery from hydrocarbon reactions

Claim 1

IN THE RECOVERY OF REACTION PRODUCTS OF THE CATALYTIC TREATMENT OF PARAFFINIC HYDROCARBONS IN THE PRESENCE OF ALUMINUM BROMIDE CATALYST, IN A REACTION ZONE, WHEREIN THE PRODUCTS OF THE REACTION COMPRISE PRINCIPALLY BRANCHED CHAIN PARAFFIN HYDROCARBONS OF FROM ABOUT 44 TO 7 CARBON ATOMS, AND INCLUDING THE STEP OF REMOVING FROM THE REACTION ZONE HYDROCARBON PRODUCTS CONTAINING DISSOLVED ALUMINUM BROMIDE, THE IMPROVEME TMENT WHICH COMPRISES ADDING TO SAID HYDROCARBON PRODUCTS WITHDRAWN FROM SAID REACTION ZONE FROM 3 TO 20 VOLUME PERCENT OF A NAPHTHENIC HYDROCRBON HAVING A BOILING POINT ABOVE THE BOILING RANGE OF SAID HYDROCARBON PRODUCTS, FLASH DISTILLING SAID HYDROCRBON PRODUCTS OVERHEAD FROM SAID ALUMINUM BROMIDE IN THE PRESENCE OF SAID ADDED NAPHTHENIC HYDROCARBON AND AT TEMPERATURE ABOVE 140* F., SEPARATING SAID NAPHTHENIC HYDROCRBON FROM ALUMINUM BROMIDE FOR FURTHER ADDITION OF SAID NAPHTHENIC HYDROCARBON TO HYDROCARBON PRODUCTS WITHDRAWN FROM SAID REACTION ZONE, AND RECYCLING RECOVERED ALUMINUM BROMIDE TO SAID REACTION ZONE.