Hydrodynamic modeling of an industrial reactor for sulfuric acid alkylation of isobutane with olefins

Relevance. The need to intensify existing industrial installations for the production of environmentally friendly high-octane alkylbenzene. Dispersion of hydrocarbon and sulfuric acid in the synthesis reactor determines the quality of the resulting gasoline, therefore it is necessary to use a hydrodynamic model of the alkylation contactor, which will allow selecting process parameters to increase the conversion of feedstock components into branched C8 isomers and the quality of the product. Aim. To select hydrodynamic parameters for the synthesis of alkyl gasoline in a sulfuric acid environment, which increases the octane number of the product flow; to identify bottlenecks in the current alkylation contactor. Object. Industrial unit for sulfuric acid alkylation of isobutane with lower olefins using STRATCO technology. Methods. Hydrodynamic model taking into account the heat exothermic reactions of isobutane alkylation with C3–C4 olefins. The model allows calculating hydrodynamic parameters and distribution profiles based on the physicochemical characteristics of the flows. Results and conclusion. The article describes the hydrodynamic model of the contactor for sulfuric acid alkylation of isobutane with olefins, and presents equations for determining the density, heat capacity and thermal conductivity of hydrocarbons. During hydrodynamic calculations, hold-up spots were found in an industrial reactor, which were determined by the distribution profile of the sulfuric acid concentration in the reactor. Using hydrodynamic calculations, the authors estimated heat removal effect on the quality of mixing and the outlet temperature. They calculated thermal conductivity coefficient (λ). The paper shows the possibility of increasing the octane number by more than 0.7 points, and gives the temperature profiles of the alkylation reactor for different thermal conductivity coefficients. For citation: Kopycheva U.N., Chuzlov V.A. Hydrodynamic model of a contactor for sulfuric acid alkylation of isobutane with olefins. Bulletin of the Tomsk Polytechnic University. Geo Assets Engineering, 2026, vol. 337, no. 7, pp. 58-65. https://doi.org/10.18799/24131830/2026/7/5338