Enabling a transalkylation process to handle both C.sub.10 alkylaromatics
and unextracted toluene permits the following improvements to be
realized. No longer extracting toluene allows a reformate-splitter column
to be eliminated. The extraction unit can be moved to the overhead of a
benzene column and integrated together with the transalkylation unit to
reduce costs. No longer requiring a rigorous split between C.sub.9 and
C.sub.10 alkylaromatics allows a heavy aromatics column to be eliminated.
Such an enabled transalkylation process requires stabilization of a
transalkylation catalyst through the introduction of a metal function.
These improvements result in an aromatics complex apparatus with savings
on inside battery limits curve costs and an improvement on the return on
investment in such a complex.