Abb Lummus Global Inc.

Lummus Technology Inc.

Catalytic Distillation Technologies

Chemical Research & Licensing Company

Charles Sumner

Stephen J Stanley

Robert J Gartside

Vitus Tuan Wei

Marvin I Greene

Gary R Gildert

Qi Ma

Thomas Skourlis

James Tzong-Chaur Wu

Jeffrey L Heineman

Christopher A Di Biase

Robert I Haines

Francis D McCarthy

John J Crawford

Richard John McNab

A method of cooling using an extended binary refrigerant system containing methane and a C3 hydrocarbon such as propylene and/or propane is disclosed. The extended binary refrigerant from a compressor final discharge is separated into a methane-rich vapor fraction and at least one C3 rich liquid fraction so as to provide various temperatures and levels of refrigeration in various heat exchange stages. The method and corresponding refrigeration system can be utilized in plants utilizing low pressure or high pressure demethanizers.

Method of cooling using extended binary refrigeration system

An ethane or other hydrocarbon feedstock is steam cracked to produce an ethylene stream which is processed in an ethylene plant recovery section to separate an ethane recycle and a polymer grade or chemical grade ethylene product stream. A portion of the ethylene product stream may then be reacted by dimerization to produce a butene stream. These formed butenes and/or butenes recovered from other sources and another portion of the ethylene product stream are reacted by metathesis to produce a propylene stream which is deethanized and separated from heavier hydrocarbons to produce the propylene product. The butene product stream may also be deethanized and is separated from heavier hydrocarbons. The overhead from the metathesis section deethanizer may be recycled to the ethylene plant recovery section. The reflux for the metathesis section deethanizer may be generated from the overhead or may be a portion of the ethylene product stream.

Production of propylene from steam cracking of hydrocarbons, particularly ethane

The charge gas from the thermal cracking of a hydrocarbon feedstock is processed in a front-end catalytic distillation hydrogenation system of an olefins plant to more effectively recover ethylene and propylene product and to process the by-products. The rate of fouling in the system is reduced by employing two columns in the system with the first column operating at a higher pressure and the second column operating at a lower pressure. The hydrogenation as well as fractionation takes place in the first column while the second column is only a fractionator. The temperature of the bottoms from each column is maintained at a temperature less than 200&#xb0; C. to avoid fouling.

Dual pressure catalytic distillation hydrogenation column system for the front end of an ethylene plant

Presented is an improvement to a previous invention involving the catalytic hydrogenation of the C to C and heavier acetylenes and dienes in a thermally cracked feed stream without significantly hydrogenating the C and C olefins. The improvement involves the use of a fixed bed hydrogenation reactor system in combination with a modified version of the catalytic distillation unit used in the prior art. The modification to the catalytic distillation unit involves improvement of the liquid recycle scheme. The fixed bed reactors combined with the modified catalytic distillation allows for 100% conversion of acetylene and helps to maintain high conversion of the other dienes and acetylenes with no ethylene or propylene conversion under a variety of conditions. These condition variations include but are not limited to the feed diene and acetylene composition, the mol % carbon monoxide in the feed, and catalyst deactivation. With catalytic distillation alone, complete conversion of the acetylene as stated above can not be achieved without ethylene loss, nor would satisfactory operation and control be possible under the variety of conditions experienced during a commercial operation.

Olefin plant recovery system employing a combination of catalytic distillation and fixed bed catalytic steps

The refrigeration system for an ethylene plant comprises a closed loop tertiary refrigerant system containing methane, ethylene and propylene. The tertiary refrigerant from a compressor final discharge is separated into a methane-rich vapor fraction and two levels of propylene-rich liquids so as to provide various temperatures and levels of refrigeration in various heat exchange stages while maintaining a nearly constant refrigerant composition flowing back to the compressor and with the bulk of the total return refrigerant flow going to the first stage compressor section. This tertiary system can also be applied to an ethylene plant with a high pressure demethanizer.

Olefin plant refrigeration system

A refrigeration system for an ethylene plant uses a low pressure demethanizer and a binary refrigerant comprising a mixture of methane and ethylene or methane and ethane. The refrigeration composition may be constant throughout the system or separators may be used to divide the refrigerant into a methane-rich binary refrigerant and an ethylene- or ethane-rich binary refrigerant.

Ethylene plant refrigeration system

In an olefins plant for the production and recovery of ethylene and propylene, the hydrogenation of the C.sub.2 acetylenes, the C.sub.3 acetylenes and dienes and the C.sub.4 and heavier acetylenes, dienes and olefins and the selective separation of the resulting products is carried out by the use of various arrangements of one or more reaction distillation columns. These columns contain a hydrogenation catalyst in enriching and stripping sections and concurrently perform a catalytic hydrogenation reaction and a distillation function.

Catalytic distillation and hydrogenation of heavy unsaturates in an

Cyclohexane is catalytically oxidized to produce cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone and precursors of these products. The product is then catalytically hydrogenated while the product is still at reaction temperature to produce additional cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone from the precursors. The oxidation is carried out in a liquid oxidation reactor at high oxygen concentrations (greater than 30% and preferably greater than 90% oxygen concentration) and at relatively low temperatures (less than 160.degree. C.). The use of the liquid oxidation reactor permits the use of these high oxygen concentrations without forming dangerously high levels of oxygen in the overhead gas phase. The result is an increased yield and selectivity of the desired products. The hydrogenation is carried out in a reactor using a catalyst of palladium supported on carbon.

Cyclohexane oxidation

The C.sub.2 to C.sub.5 and heavier acetylenes and dienes in a thermally cracked feed stream are hydrogenated without significantly hydrogenating the C.sub.2 and C.sub.3 olefins. Additionally, the C.sub.4 and heavier olefins may be hydrogenated. Specifically, the cracked gas feed in an olefin plant is hydrogenated in a distillation reaction column containing a hydrogenation catalyst without the necessity of separating the hydrogen out of the feed and without any significant hydrogenation of the ethylene and propylene. A combined reaction-fractionation step known as catalytic distillation hydrogenation is used to simultaneously carry out the reactions and separations while maintaining the hydrogenation conditions such that the ethylene and propylene remain substantially un-hydrogenated and essentially all of the other C.sub.2 and heavier unsaturated hydrocarbons are hydrogenated. Any unreacted hydrogen can be separated by a membrane and then reacted with separated C.sub.9 and heavier materials to produce hydrogenated pyrolysis gasoline.

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Livingston, NJ, United States of America

Charles Sumner