Alkylation of 3-methylthiophene with 2-methyl-2-butene over a zeolitic catalyst

Sulfur removal remains a challenging task for refiners. To attain high desulfurization levels for gasoline, new processes were recently patented. One of them proposed to separate sulfur compounds by distillation after being weighed down by alkylation with olefins present in the feed. In this study, the transformation mechanism of the alkylation of 3-methylthiophene with 2-methyl-2-butene was studied in a batch reactor over zeolitic catalysts at 358 K. The first step of this study was devoted to the hydrodynamic of the reactor, to ensure that the reaction proceeds under chemical control. A detailed mechanistic study, including competitive catalytic experiments, then is reported.