Bp Chemicals Limited

The British Petroleum Company, P.l.c.

Jeremy B Cooper

Stephen Roy Partington

Andrew Richard Lucy

Jonathon Charles Frost

Bruce Leo Williams

Derrick John Watson

Derek Alan Colman

Stephen James Smith

Karen Small

John Dixon-Hall

Kevin G Smith

Simon D Aubigne

A continuous process for the dehydrogenation of a hydrocarbon and/or oxygenated hydrocarbon feed, comprising contacting the hydrocarbon and/or oxygenated hydrocarbon feed with a dehydrogenation catalyst at elevated temperature in a reaction zone characterised in that the catalyst is capable of retaining hydrogen and (a) is contacted with a feed to form a dehydrogenated product and hydrogen, at least some of the hydrogen formed being adsorbed by the catalyst and/or reacting therewith to reduce at least part of the catalyst; (b) the dehydrogenated product and any unadsorbed/unreacted hydrogen is removed from the reaction zone; (c) at least some of the adsorbed hydrogen is removed from the catalyst and/or at least some of the reduced catalyst is oxidised; and (d) reusing the catalyst from step (c) in step (a).

Process for dehydrogenating hydrocarbons and oxygenated hydrocarbons

Process for the liquid phase oxidation of butane to produce acetic acid in which oxygen and butane are reacted in the presence of a cobalt catalyst in a liquid reaction composition in an oxidation reaction zone at a temperature in the reaction zone in the range of 136.degree. to 150.degree. C., while continuously maintaining a concentration of oxygen throughout the reaction zone equivalent to a partial pressure of oxygen greater than two bar. The concentration of cobalt oxidation catalyst in the liquid reaction composition is at least 0.12% by weight cobalt and up to its limit of solubility in the liquid reaction composition.

Process for the production of acetic acid

Ethylene and propylene are recovered from a mixture thereof with other hydrocarbons by: (a) feeding the mixture to a separation zone with a top and a bottom; (b) feeding to the top above the mixture an aqueous complexing solution to form Cu(I) complexes of ethylene and propylene; (c) feeding below the mixture ethylene to strip propylene from the propylene complex; (d) removing from the bottom below the stripping gas a first liquid stream containing the Cu (I) ethylene complex; (e) recovering ethylene from the Cu(I) complex using reduced pressure and/or elevated temperature; (f) removing from the separation zone between the the gaseous mixture and the complexing solution, a second liquid stream comprising Cu (I) propylene complex; (g) recovering propylene from the Cu(I) complex and producing a liquid recycle stream comprising copper (I) salt; and (h) recycling the liquid recycle stream from step (g) to the separation zone.

Process for recovering olefins from gaseous mixtures

A continuous process for the dehydrogenation of a hydrocarbon and/or oxygenated hydrocarbon feed, comprising contacting the hydrocarbon and/or oxygenated hydrocarbon feed with a dehydrogenation catalyst at elevated temperature in a reaction zone characterized in that the catalyst is capable of retaining hydrogen and (a) is contacted with a feed to form a dehydrogenated product and hydrogen, at least some of the hydrogen formed being adsorbed by the catalyst and/or reacting therewith to reduce at least part of the catalyst; (b) the dehydrogenated product and any unadsorbed/unreacted hydrogen is removed from the reaction zone; (c) at least some of the adsorbed hydrogen is removed from the catalyst and/or at least some of the reduced catalyst is oxidized; and (d) reusing the catalyst from step (c) in step (a).

In a process for the production of acetic acid by carbonylation of methanol in the presence of a rhodium carbonylation catalyst, methyl iodide and an iodide salt stabiliser the improvement resides in maintaining a finite concentration of water of up to about 10% by weight and a methyl acetate concentration of at least 2% by weight in the liquid reaction composition and recovering the acetic acid product by passing the liquid reaction composition through a flash zone to produce a vapour fraction which is passed to a single distillation column from which an acetic acid product is removed.

Process for removing palladium from polyketones

A process for removing acetone from an acetone/methyl acetate/methyl iodide mixture utilizing extractive distillation with water being introduced to the distillation zone above the point of introduction of the mixture and acetic acid being introduced at or above the point of introduction of the mixture. In a preferred embodiment the mixture is subjected to an initial extraction with an aqueous extractant to remove most of the methyl iodide. The process is particularly applicable to removing acetone by-product in carbonylation processes for the production of acetic anhydride.

Process for removing acetone from a mixture of acetone, methyl, acetate

A process for purifying an iodide-contaminated carboxylic acid and/or anhydride fraction obtained by liquid phase carbonylation using a carbonylation catalyst, an iodine-containing promoter and optional iodine-containing copromoter comprises vaporizing the fraction after it has been freed of catalyst, feedstock and promoter components to produce a vapor acid and/or anhydride fraction having reduced iodide contamination.

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West Sussex, United Kingdom

Jeremy B Cooper