Johnson Matthey Davy Technologies Limited

Basf Se Corporation

Dow Technology Investments LLC

Adrian Lord

Martin Smidt

Glenn A Miller

Michael A Brammer

Thomas Carl Eisenschmid

Jens Rudolph

David Welch

Hans-Günter Thelen

Donald L Campbell, Jr

Hans-Rüdiger Reeh

Atul Manilal Shah

Fraser Robert Archibald

Maximilian Walter

Martin Lucas Smidt

A process for the production of normal-butanol, iso-butanol and 2-alkyl alkanol is disclosed. The process comprises: hydrogenating a feed comprising normal butyraldehyde, iso-butyraldehyde and 2-alkyl alkenal to form a crude product stream comprising normal-butanol, iso-butanol, 2-alkyl alkanol, unreacted normal butyraldehyde, unreacted iso-butyraldehyde and one or more of unreacted 2-alkyl alkenal, 2-alkyl alkanal or 2-alkyl alkenol; separating the crude product stream to produce: a mixed butanol stream having higher concentrations of normal butanol, iso-butanol, unreacted normal butyraldehyde and unreacted iso-butyraldehyde than the crude product stream; and a crude 2-alkyl alkanol stream having higher concentrations of 2-alkyl alkanol and the one or more of unreacted 2-alkyl alkenal, 2-alkyl alkanal or 2-alkyl alkenol than the crude product stream; separating the mixed butanol stream to produce: a refined normal butanol stream having a higher concentration of normal butanol than the mixed butanol stream; and a crude iso-butanol stream having a higher concentration of iso-butanol than the mixed butanol stream; feeding the crude iso-butanol stream to a first polishing hydrogenation reactor wherein at least some of the unreacted iso-butyraldehyde is converted to iso-butanol to produce a polished iso-butanol stream; separating the polished iso-butanol stream to produce: a refined iso-butanol stream having a higher concentration of iso-butanol than the polished iso-butanol stream; and a light waste stream; separating the crude 2-alkyl alkanol stream to produce: an intermediate 2-alkyl alkanol stream having higher concentrations of 2-alkyl alkanol and the one or more of unreacted 2-alkyl alkenal, 2-alkyl alkanal or 2-alkyl alkenol than the crude 2-alkyl alkanol stream; and a heavy waste stream; feeding the intermediate 2-alkyl alkanol stream to a second polishing hydrogenation reactor wherein at least some of the one or more of unreacted 2-alkyl alkenal, 2-alkyl alkanal or 2-alkyl alkenol is converted to 2-alkyl alkanol to produce a polished 2-alkyl alkanol stream having a higher concentration of 2-alkyl alkanol than the intermediate 2-alkyl alkanol stream; separating the polished 2-alkyl alkanol stream to produce: a refined 2-alkyl alkanol stream having a higher concentration of 2-alkyl alkanol than the polished 2-alkyl alkanol stream; and an intermediate waste stream.

Process for making a feed of normal butanol, iso-butanol and 2-alkyl alkanol

A process for the production of 2-alkylalkanol from an aldehyde is disclosed. The process comprises the steps of: feeding aldehyde to a reactor () operated under condensation and dehydration conditions such that reaction occurs and an unsaturated aldehyde is produced; recovering a stream from the reactor () comprising the unsaturated aldehyde and feeding said stream to a first hydrogenation reactor () operated under conditions such that at least some of the unsaturated aldehyde is converted to 2-alkylalkanol; recovering the stream from the first hydrogenation reactor () comprising the 2-alkylalkanol, one or more of unreacted acrolein, alkylalkenol and alkylalkanal and heavies; passing the stream recovered from the first hydrogenation reactor () to a first distillation zone () where at least some of the heavies are separated from the stream; recovering a stream from the first distillation zone () comprising the 2-alkylalkanol, one or more of unreacted acrolein, alkylalkenol and alkylalkanal, said stream having a reduced heavies content when compared to the stream fed to the first distillation zone (), and feeding said stream to a second hydrogenation reactor () operated under conditions such that at least one of the unreacted acrolein, alkylalkenol and alkylalkanal are converted to 2-alkylalkanol; and recovering a stream from the second hydrogenation reactor () comprising an increased 2-alkylalkanol content compared to the stream fed to the second hydrogenation reactor ().

Process for the production of 2-alkylalkanol

A process for the distillation of an aldehyde mixture comprising a straight-chain aldehyde and a branched-chain aldehyde is described in which the process comprises: supplying a feed comprising the aldehyde mixture to a first separation vessel; operating said first separation vessel at a first temperature and a first pressure such that separation occurs; recovering a first stream comprising the straight-chain aldehyde from said first separation vessel and supplying said first stream to a second separation vessel; operating said second separation vessel at a second temperature and a second pressure such that separation occurs; recovering a product stream comprising the straight-chain aldehyde and a second stream comprising high-boiling components from said second separation vessel, and supplying said second stream to a third separation vessel; operating said third separation vessel at a third temperature and a third pressure such that separation occurs; and recovering a third stream comprising the aldehyde mixture from said third separation vessel and reintroducing said third stream to the first separation vessel.

Process for the distillation of an aldehyde mixture

The extraction process for removing metal salts from an organic hydroformylation reaction fluid ('HRF') prior to returning the HRF to a reaction zone of a hydroformylation process, the extraction process comprising the step of contacting the HRF with an aqueous buffer solution, is improved by contacting the HRF with water in addition to that present in the aqueous buffer solution, i.e., with added water.

Mitigation of fouling in hydroformylation processes by water addition

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London, United Kingdom

Adrian Lord