A process and a plant for producing olefins from oxygenates such as methanol and/or dimethyl ether are proposed, in which initially the oxygenates are converted to a primary product containing propylene, other olefins, paraffins and aromatics in an olefin synthesis reactor. The primary product is separated into hydrocarbon fractions of different C chain length, wherein short-chain olefins such as propylene are obtained and beside further fractions there is also obtained a C.sub.7 fraction which contains C.sub.5/C.sub.6 olefins, as well as a C.sub.7+ fraction which contains aromatics. From the latter, the aromatics are separated and alkylated with the C.sub.5/C.sub.6 olefins to obtain alkyl aromatics. The same are hydrogenated completely and recirculated to the olefin synthesis reactor, where they likewise are converted to short-chain olefins.

A molecular sieve material, EMM-17, has in its as-calcined form, a total surface area of greater than 550 m.sup.2/g and/or an external surface area of greater than about 100 m.sup.2/g as measured by the BET Method, and a specific X-ray diffraction pattern.

Catalyst compositions with improved alkylation activity and corresponding methods for making such catalyst compositions are provided. The catalyst(s) correspond to solid acid catalysts formed by exposing a catalyst precursor with a zeolitic framework structure to a molten metal salt that includes fluorine, such as a molten metal fluoride. The resulting fluorinated solid acid catalysts can have improved alkylation activity while having a reduced or minimized amount of structural change due to the exposure to the molten metal fluoride. This is in contrast to fluorinated solid acid catalysts that are exposed to higher severity forms of fluorination, such as exposure to ammonium fluoride or HF. SnF.sub.2 is an example of a suitable molten metal fluoride.

Methods of simultaneously converting butanes and methanol to olefins over Ti-containing zeolite catalysts are described. The exothermicity of the alcohols to olefins reaction is matched by endothermicity of dehydrogenation reaction of butane(s) to light olefins resulting in a thermo-neutral process. The Ti-containing zeolites provide excellent selectivity to light olefins as well as exceptionally high hydrothermal stability. The coupled reaction may advantageously be conducted in a staged reactor with methanol/DME conversion zones alternating with zones for butane(s) dehydrogenation. The resulting light olefins can then be reacted with iso-butane to produce high-octane alkylate. The net result is a highly efficient and low cost method for converting methanol and butanes to alkylate.

Alkylate is produced by supplying iso-C.sub.4+ hydrocarbon feed to an alkylation reactor, and by further selectively supplying to the alkylation reactor an olefin selected from the group consisting of refinery grade propylene (RGP) and polymer grade propylene (PGP), and combinations thereof. The olefin feed is controlled such that the proportion of PGP supplied through the olefin feed inlet exceeds that of RGP for a predetermined time interval, using a special purpose computer programmed to optimize the allocation of PGP between alkylation production and a commodity market in order to increase total net profit margin.

We provide systems for ionic liquid catalyzed hydrocarbon conversion that comprise a modular reactor comprising a plurality of mixer modules. The mixer modules may be arranged in series. One or more feed modules are disposed between the mixer modules. Such systems may be used for ionic liquid catalyzed alkylation reactions. Processes for ionic liquid catalyzed hydrocarbon conversion are also disclosed.

A new crystalline molecular sieve designated SSZ-95 is disclosed. In general, SSZ-95 is synthesized from a reaction mixture suitable for synthesizing MTT-type molecular sieves and maintaining the mixture under crystallization conditions sufficient to form product. The product molecular sieve is subjected to a pre-calcination step, and ion-exchange to remove extra-framework cations, and a post-calcination step. The molecular sieve has a MTT-type framework and a H-D exchangeable acid site density of 0 to 50% relative to molecular sieve SSZ-32.

We provide a process, comprising:

a. dehydrogenating natural gas liquid to produce a mixture comprising olefins and unconverted paraffins;

b. without further purification or modification other than mixing with an isoparaffin, sending the mixture to a single alkylation reactor;

c. alkylating the olefins with the isoparaffin, using an ionic liquid catalyst, to produce one or more alkylate products; and

d. distilling the one or more alkylate products and collecting a bottoms distillation fraction that is a middle distillate blending component having a sulfur level of 50 wppm or less and a Bromine number less than 1.

Processes are provided for making an alkylate gasoline blending component, comprising: a. feeding an olefin feed comprising greater than 80 wppm of a sulfur contaminant comprising mercaptans, alkyl sulfides, and alkyl disulfides to a chloroaluminate ionic liquid catalyst, wherein a level of the sulfur contaminant accumulates in the chloroaluminate ionic liquid catalyst to make a sulfur-contaminated ionic liquid catalyst comprising 300 to 20,000 wppm of a sulfur; and b. alkylating the olefin feed with an isoparaffin using the sulfur-contaminated ionic liquid catalyst to make the alkylate gasoline blending component having a final boiling point below 221? C. An alkylation process exclusively utilizing coker LPG olefins is also provided.

A process is presented for the purification of an olefins feed stream to a benzene alkylation unit. The process removes heavy aromatics in a two adsorbent unit system. The unit passes the olefins feed stream to a first adsorbent unit, while the second adsorbent unit is either in regeneration mode, or standby mode. The process switches the feed stream to the second adsorbent unit and displaces the fluid in the second adsorbent unit, while maintaining the flow of the purified feed stream to the benzene alkylation unit.