Shell Oil Comapny

Shell Usa, Inc.

Jean Paul Andre Marie Joseph Ghislain Lange

Juben Nemchand Chheda

Evert Van Der Heide

Pieter Huizenga

Sipke Hidde Wadman

Paul Richard Weider

Robert Lawrence Blackbourn

Charu Ehrenreich-Gureja

Thimo Daniel Jozef Te Molder

Leslie Andrew Chewter

Timothy Michael Nisbet

Duraisamy Muthusamy

Klaas Lambertus Von Hebel

Dionysius Jacobus Maria De Vlieger

Rene Johan Haan

Smita Edulji

Henri Preising

A process for the preparing glycols from a lignocellulosic solid biomass involves contacting the biomass with an organic solvent comprising a low boiling point alcohol and a pre-treatment acid at a temperature in a range from 80 to 220° C. and a pressure in a range from 1 to 50 bara. The resulting mixture, having >20 wt. % water, is separated into a pre-treated solid residue comprising cellulose and a liquid stream comprising dissolved lignin and hemicellulose. The pre-treated solid residue is subjected to a hydrogenolysis reaction, generating a glycols stream, a lights stream, comprising a first portion of organic solvent, and a heavies stream. At least of part of the liquid stream is separated to produce a second portion of organic solvent and a solid residue of lignin and hemicellulose. At least part of the first and second portion of organic solvent is recycled to the contacting step.

Pre-treatment of lignocellulosic feeds for the production of glycols

A process for preparing glycols from a lignocellulosic solid biomass involves contacting the biomass with an organic solvent comprising a low boiling point alcohol and a pre-treatment acid at a temperature in a range from 80 to 220° C. and a pressure in a range from 1 to 50 bara. The resulting mixture, having less than wt. % water, is separated into a pre-treated solid residue comprising cellulose and a liquid stream comprising dissolved lignin. The pre-treated solid residue is subjected to a hydrogenolysis reaction. generating a glycols stream, a lights stream, comprising a first portion of organic solvent, and a heavies stream. At least part of the liquid stream is separated to produce a second portion of organic solvent and a lignin stream. At least part of the first and second portions of organic solvent is recycled to the contacting step.

Disclosed is a process for the extraction of furfural. The process includes subjecting a composition comprising furfural, water, at least one acid and an aromatic solvent, with a boiling point higher than that of furfural, to a first separation step in a first liquid-liquid separator providing a first organic phase and a first aqueous phase; conveying the first organic phase along a first line to a distillation column and subjecting the first organic phase to a distillation step providing a top stream comprising furfural and a bottom stream comprising the aromatic solvent; subjecting the first aqueous phase and a portion of the bottom stream to a second separation step providing a second organic phase; conveying the second organic phase along a second line which either feeds its contents into the first line or into the distillation column and subjecting the resultant mixture to said distillation step.

Process for the recovery of furfural

The present invention provides a process for the production of 1,4-BDO and THF from furan, said process comprising: (i) contacting furan with hydrogen and water in a reactor in the presence of a catalytic composition, wherein the furan and water are contacted in the presence of a solvent, said solvent being selected from one or more of THF, 1,4-BDO and NBA, and converting at least a portion of said furan to 1,4-BDO and THF; (ii) producing a reactor product stream comprising gases, water, THF, 1,4-BDO and furan; (iii) separating gases from the reactor product stream; (iv) then separating at least a portion of each of the THF and 1,4-BDO from said reactor product stream; and (v) recycling the remainder of the reactor product stream, comprising water, optionally furan, and at least one of THF, 1,4-BDO and NBA, to the reactor.

Process for the production of 1,4-butanediol and tetrahydrofuran from furan

The invention relates to an integrated process for the production of ethylene and vinyl acetate (VAM), comprising contacting in a first reaction zone a gas stream comprising ethane and optionally ethylene with an oxygen-containing gas stream in the presence of a oxydehydrogenation catalyst under oxidative dehydrogenation conditions to produce a first product stream comprising ethane, ethylene, acetic acid and water, and optionally other compounds, separating said first product stream in a vapor permeation unit into a second stream comprising water and a third stream comprising ethane, ethylene, acetic acid, and optionally other gaseous compounds, contacting in a second reaction zone all or at least a portion of said third stream with a stream comprising concentrated acetic acid and with an oxygen-containing gas stream in the presence of a VAM catalyst, to produce a fourth product stream comprising vinyl acetate, acetic acid, ethane, ethylene, water, carbon dioxide, and optionally other compounds, separating said fourth product stream in a vinyl acetate separation zone into a fifth stream comprising vinylacetate, acetic acid, water and optionally other condensable compounds, and a sixth stream comprising ethylene, ethane, carbon dioxide and optionally other gaseous compounds, and recovering vinyl acetate from said fifth stream. The invention further relates to a reaction system for carrying out the process.

Ethane oxidative dehydrogenation with co-production of vinyl acetate

Disclosed is a process for the extraction of furfural which includes: (a) subjecting a composition comprising furfural, water, at least one acid and an aromatic solvent, with a boiling point higher than that of furfural, to a first separation step providing: (i) an organic phase, and (ii) an aqueous phase; (b) subjecting the aqueous phase of step (a) to a first distillation step to provide: (i) a first in top stream comprising a furfural-water azeotrope; (c) subjecting the first top stream of step (b) to a second separation step to provide: (i) a second top stream comprising a portion of the furfural-water azeotrope; (d) subjecting the second top stream of step (c) to a second distillation step to provide: (i) a third top stream enriched with the furfural-water azeotropic mixture; (e) subjecting the organic phase of step (a) to a third distillation step to provide: a fourth top stream comprising furfural.

A process for the extraction of furfural from a composition comprising furfural, water, at least one organic acid and an oxygenate solvent with a boiling point higher than that of furfural. The process includes: (a) subjecting the composition to a first liquid-liquid separation step to provide: (i) an organic phase; (b) subjecting the organic phase of step (a) to a first distillation step to provide: (i) a first top stream; (c) subjecting the first top stream of step (b) to a second liquid-liquid separation step to provide: (i) a second top stream; and (d) subjecting the second top stream of step (c) to a second distillation step to provide: (i) a third top stream comprising a furfural-water azeotrope, and (ii) a third bottom stream comprising furfural.

Disclosed is a process for the extraction of furfural including: (a) subjecting a composition comprising furfural, water, at least one inorganic acid, at least one organic acid and a solvent mixture comprising an aromatic solvent and an oxygenate solvent, to a first separation step providing: (i) a first organic phase; (b) subjecting the first organic phase to a first distillation step providing: (i) a first top stream comprising furfural and a portion of the at least one organic acid; (c) subjecting the first top stream from step (b) to a second separation step providing: (i) a second top stream enriched with furfural; (d) subjecting the second top stream from step (c) to a second distillation step providing: (i) a third top stream comprising a furfural-water azeotrope, and (ii) a third bottom stream comprising furfural.

The invention provides a catalyst system comprising: a) one or more Group 1 metal phosphotungstate-containing species; and b) one or more catalytic species suitable for hydrogenation; and a process for the preparation of monoethylene glycol from starting material comprising one or more saccharides, by contacting said starting material with hydrogen in a reactor in the presence of a solvent and said catalyst system.

Catalyst system and process for the production of glycols

Implementations of the disclosed subject matter provide a process for converting biomass into furfural. The process may include subjecting a pentosan-containing biomass material to an acid catalyzed digestion process in a digestion vessel to produce a digested product stream comprising C5-carbohydrates and solids comprising cellulose. The digested product stream may be separated into a liquid product stream and a solid product stream comprising lignin and cellulose. The solids product stream may be contacted with water and an organic solvent, thereby converting at least part of the lignin to a phenolic solvent. The C5-carbohydrate in the liquid product stream may be subjected to a dehydration reaction in the presence of an acid catalyst and a biphasic mixture comprising an aqueous phase and a water-immiscible organic phase, wherein the water-immiscible organic phase includes at least a portion of the phenolic solvent, to produce furfural or a furan derivative.

Lignin-based solvents and methods for their preparation

The invention provides a continuous process for the preparation of ethylene glycol and 1, 2-propylene glycol from starting material comprising one or more saccharides, said process being carried out in a reactor system comprising a reactor vessel equipped with an external recycle loop and said process comprising the steps of: i) providing the starting material in a solvent, via an inlet, to the external recycle loop and contacting it therein with a retro-aldol catalyst composition to provide an intermediate stream; ii) then contacting said intermediate stream with hydrogen in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst composition in the reactor vessel; iii) withdrawing a product stream comprising glycols from the reactor vessel; iv) providing a portion of said product stream, via an outlet, for separation and purification of the glycols contained therein; and v) recycling the remainder of said product stream via the external recycle loop.

Process for the preparation of glycols

Methods and processes for the production of valuable organic products and alcohols from biomass using a single-step dehydration extraction process having numerous advantages over prior production methods are described.

One-step production of furfural from biomass

Furfural is produced from biomass material containing pentosan, in high yields, in a production process comprising treating the biomass with a solution containing at least one &#x3b1;-hydroxysulfonic acid thereby hydrolyzing the biomass to produce a product stream containing at least one C-carbohydrate compound in monomeric and/or oligomeric form, and dehydrating the C-carbohydrate compound in the presence of a heterogeneous solid acid catalyst, in a biphasic reaction medium comprising an aqueous phase and a water-immiscible organic phase, at a temperature in the range of from about 100&#xb0; C. to about 250&#xb0; C. to produce a dehydration product stream containing furfural. An aqueous stream is separated from the dehydration product, which can be optionally recycled to the hydrolysis step.

Process for preparing furfural from biomass

Furfural is produced from biomass material containing pentosan, in high yields, in a production process comprising treating the biomass with a solution containing at least one &#x3b1;-hydroxysulfonic acid thereby hydrolyzing the biomass to produce a product stream containing at least one C-carbohydrate compound in monomeric and/or oligomeric form, and dehydrating the C5-carbohydrate compound in the presence of an acid, in a biphasic reaction medium comprising an aqueous phase and a water-immiscible organic phase, at a temperature in the range of from about 100&#xb0; C. to about 250&#xb0; C. to produce a dehydration product stream containing furfural. An aqueous stream is separated from the dehydration product that can be optionally recycled to the hydrolysis step.

The present invention provides a process for preparing furfural and furfural derivatives using a furfural-derived solvent.

Growing community of inventors

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Jean Paul Andre Marie Joseph Ghislain Lange