Oligomer production with catalytic distillation

This process for the production of heavy oligomers by a combination of dehydrogenation and oligomerization uses a bed of saturation catalyst in a debutanizer to simplify the saturation and recycle of C4 hydrocarbons to the dehydrogenation zone. The catalytic distillation zone is located in the top of the debutanizer column and may offer further efficiency improvements to the process when used in series with a bed of alkylation or oligomerization catalyst in the distillation zone. The bed of alkylation or oligomerization catalyst reduces the quantity of C4 hydrocarbons recycled to the dehydrogenation zone by oligomerizing unconverted C4 olefins in the distillation column. Conversion of C4 olefins in the distillation column facilitates the operation of the oligomerization zone at lower conversion conditions that favor production of high octane products. The catalytic distillation arrangement is particularly beneficial in a combination for motor fuel from isoparaffins by dehydrogenation, oligomerization and saturation where the mass flow through the saturation zone is also reduced by alkylation and saturation in the distillation column.