Regarding the alkylation of liquids with acids, there is alkylation with sulfuric acid; then why does alkylation with hydrofluoric acid also exist?

This post was last edited by qugd on 2021-3-5 11:12. It’s just like making roasted chicken: with fire for cooking, why not also use electricity for cooking? In the initial research stages, the alkylation method likely involved the use of hydrofluoric acid, as it possesses both Lewis acid and protonic acid catalytic properties, making it superior to sulfuric acid, which is a pure protonic acid. However, in industrial applications, considerations related to the material used for equipment and operational safety led to the widespread use of the sulfuric acid method at first. Only after some of the issues associated with using hydrofluoric acid for alkylation were resolved did the hydrofluoric acid-based alkylation method become popular again. The amount of waste acid generated by the alkylation of hydrofluoric acid is very small, resulting in low costs for recovery and treatment. However, the sulfate alkylation method generates large amounts of waste acid, resulting in high costs for recovery or regeneration.