Mobil Oil Corporation

Sunoco Inc (r&m)

Albert H Wu

James H Beech, Jr

James A Stoos

Douglas Miller

Jorge Luis Soto

James T Wei

A zeolite-catalyzed cumene synthesis process in which benzene and propylene feedstocks are pre-treated to remove catalyst poisons. The benzene feedstock is pre-treated under pressure by contact with a &ldquo;hot&rdquo; clay bed at a temperature of about 200 to 500&deg; C., followed by distillation of the benzene feedstock to separate the benzene from the higher molecular weight materials formed from olefinic poisons during the hot clay treatment. The benzene feed is also subjected to a &ldquo;cold&rdquo; clay treatment wherein the benzene distillate is contacted with an ambient-temperature clay. The propylene feedstock is pre-treated by contact with an alumina to remove trace sodium compounds and moisture, a molecular sieve to remove moisture, and two modified aluminas to remove catalyst poisons. The pre-treated propylene and benzene feedstocks are then reacted in the presence of a zeolite catalyst to form cumene without causing rapid degradation of the catalyst's activity.

Cumene synthesis process using purified benzene and propylene feedstock streams

An improved process for production of diisopropyl ether by conversion of hydrocarbon feedstock containing propene, propane and C.sub.2 -- light gas components. The overall process steps include, (optionally) prefractionating fresh feedstock containing propene, propane and C.sub.2 -- light gas components to provide a reactor feedstream rich in propene; contacting the feedstock and water in a catalytic reactor with acidic catalyst under olefin hydration and etherification conditions; and recovering from the catalytic reactor a liquid reactor effluent stream containing diisopropyl ether, isopropanol, water, unreacted propene, propane, oligomer and C.sub.2 -- light gas components. DIPE product containing C.sub.6 + oligomer is recovered by separating the liquid effluent stream in a stripper column, and extracting the DIPE-rich liquid with water. An improved separation process is employed for removing water to provide DIPE liquid product substantially free of water.

Di-isopropyl ether synthesis and dry product recovery

A process for production of diisopropyl ether by conversion of hydrocarbon feedstock containing propene, propane and C.sub.2 - light gas components, including the steps of: optionally, prefractionating fresh feedstock containing propene, propane and C.sub.2 - light gas components to provide a reactor feedstream rich in propene; contacting the feedstock and water in a catalytic reactor with acidic catalyst under olefin hydration and etherification conditions; and recovering from the catalytic reactor a liquid reactor effluent stream containing diisopropyl ether, isopropanol, water, unreacted propene, propane and C.sub.2 - light gas components. Improved operation is achieved by separating the liquid effluent stream in a vertical stripper column; recovering an overhead vapor stream containing propene, propane and C.sub.2 - light gas components from the stripper column; cooling the overhead vapor stream to provide a reflux stream rich in condensed propene and propane; removing the C.sub.2 - light gas components from condensed; recycling the reflux stream to an upper contact portion of the stripper column; and recovering a predominantly C3 recycle stream from the upper contact portion of the stripper column. Optionally, the C3 recycle stream may be passed to the to the prefractioning step for propene enrichment with fresh feedstock.

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Medford, NJ, United States of America

Albert H Wu