Catalytic hydrogenation with a mixture of metal halide and anhydrous protonic acid

Claim 2

A PROCESS FOR HYDROGENATING A FEED COMPRISING ORGANIC COMPOUNDS CONTAINING ONE OR MORE ETHYLENIC LINKAGES WHICH COMPRISES:

Claim 3

CONTACTING SAID FEED IN THE PRESENCE OF HYDROGEN WITH A CATALYST COMPRISED OF A. A METAL HALIDE WHEREIN SAID METAL IS ALUMINUM, GALLIUM, TIN, LEAD, VANADIUM, NIOBIUM, TATALUM, ARSENIC, CHROMIUM, MOLYBDENUM, TUNGSTEN, RARE EARTH AND/OR TRANSURANIUM METAL AND SAID HALIDE IS FLUORIDE, CHLORIDE, BROMIDE AND/OR IODINE, AND B. AT LEAST AN EQUAL MOLAR AMOUNT, BASED ON METAL HALIDE, OF A PROTONIC ACID CAPABLE OF BEING A PROTON DONOR TO THE SYSTEM AND FURTHER BEING CHARACTERIZED BY THE FORMULA HX, RAXBQOC OR MIXTURES THEREOF WHERE H IS HYDROGEN, X IS CHLORINE, BROMINE, FLUORINE AND/OR IODINE; R IS HYDROGEN, C1-C4 ALKYL, C3-C10 CYCLOALKYL AND/OR C6-C10 ARYL, Q IS EITHER PHOSPHORUS OR SULFUR; O IS OXYGEN; A IS AN INTEGER RANGING FROM 1 TO 4 AND B AND C ARE INTEGERS RANGING FROM 0 TO 6; AND

Claim 4

CONTACTING SAID FEED IN THE PRESENCE OF HYDROGEN WITH A CATALYST COMPRISED OF A. A METAL HALIDE WHEREIN SAID METAL IS ALUMINUM, GALLIUM, TIN, LEAD, VANADIUM, NIOBIUM, TATALUM, ARSENIC, CHROMIUM, MOLYBDENUM, TUNGSTEN, RARE EARTH AND/OR TRANSURANIUM METAL AND SAID HALIDE IS FLUORIDE, CHLORIDE, BROMIDE AND/OR IODINE, AND B. AT LEAST AN EQUAL MOLAR AMOUNT, BASED ON METAL HALIDE, OF A PROTONIC ACID CAPABLE OF BEING A PROTON DONOR TO THE SYSTEM AND FURTHER BEING CHARACTERIZED BY THE FORMULA HX, RAXBQOC OR MIXTURES THEREOF WHERE H IS HYDROGEN, X IS CHLORINE, BROMINE, FLUORINE AND/OR IODINE; R IS HYDROGEN, C1-C4 ALKYL, C3-C10 CYCLOALKYL AND/OR C6-C10 ARYL, Q IS EITHER PHOSPHORUS OR SULFUR; O IS OXYGEN; A IS AN INTEGER RANGING FROM 1 TO 4 AND B AND C ARE INTEGERS RANGING FROM 0 TO 6; AND

Claim 5

RECOVERING A PRODUCT HAVING AN AVERAGE MOLECULAR WEIGHT HIGHER THAN THE AVERAGE MOLECULAR WEIGHT OF THE FEED.

Claim 6

RECOVERING A PRODUCT HAVING AN AVERAGE MOLECULAR WEIGHT HIGHER THAN THE AVERAGE MOLECULAR WEIGHT OF THE FEED.

Claim 7

recovering a product having an average molecular weight higher than the average molecular weight of the feed.

Claim 8

recovering a product having an average molecular weight higher than the average molecular weight of the feed.

Claim 9

The process of claim 1 wherein said feed is contacted in the presence of an aliphatic diluent.

Claim 10

The process of claim 2 wherein said protonic acid is anhydrous hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen bromide, hydrogen chloride or mixtures thereof.

Claim 11

The process of claim 3 wherein said aliphatic diluent is a paraffin containing 4 to 6 carbon atoms.

Claim 12

The process of claim 4 wherein the molar ratio of hydrogen halide to metal halide present is at least 5:1.

Claim 13

The process of claim 5 wherein the temperature is within the range between about 25* to 125*C.

Claim 14

The process of claim 6 wherein said metal halide is a metal fluoride and said hydrogen halide is hydrogen fluoride.

Claim 15

The process of claim 7 wherein said metal fluoride is tantalum pentafluoride, niobium pentafluoride or mixtures thereof.

Claim 16

The process of claim 2 wherein said catalyst is comprised of (1) tantalum pentafluoride, and (2) anhydrous hydrogen fluoride.

Claim 17

The process of claim 9 wherein the molar ratio of hydrogen fluoride to tantalum pentafluoride present is at least 5:1 and said aliphatic diluent is a C4-C6 paraffin.

Claim 18

The process of claim 2 wherein said catalyst is comprised of (1) niobium pentafluoride, and (2) anhydrous hydrogen fluoride.

Claim 19

The process of claim 11 wherein the molar ratio of hydrogen fluoride to niobium pentafluoride is at least 5:1 and said aliphatic diluent is a C4-C6 paraffin.

Claim 20

The process of claim 1 wherein the feed is selected from the group consisting of olefins and aromatics or mixtures thereof.