Lyondellbasell Acetyls, LLC

Equistar Chemicals, LP

John D Hearn

Noel C Hallinan

Brian A Salisbury

Michael E Fitzpatrick

Daniel F White

Miraj S Patel

David L Ramage

Sanjeev Deshpande

Ryan J Mathews

The present disclosure provides for a method for measuring the concentration of one or more components in a feed stream or reactor mixture of a process for producing acetic acid by both infrared and Raman spectroscopic analyses. In some embodiments, at least one feed stream comprising water is adjusted in response to the measured concentration of one or more components.

Reaction control in acetic acid processes

Processes for producing carboxylic acid are included herein. The processes include contacting methanol and carbon monoxide in the presence of a liquid reaction medium under carbonylation conditions sufficient to form a carbonylation product including acetic acid and one or more components selected from acetaldehyde, formic acid and combinations thereof, wherein the liquid reaction medium includes: a carbonylation catalyst selected from rhodium catalysts, iridium catalysts and palladium catalysts; and water in a water concentration in a range of 1 wt. % to 14 wt. % based on the total weight of the liquid reaction medium; and contacting at least a portion of the carbonylation product or a derivative thereof with an adsorbent at adsorption conditions sufficient to selectively reduce a concentration of one or more components present in the carbonylation product, wherein the adsorbent includes a silicoaluminophosphate (SAPO).

Selective removal of impurities in acetic acid production processes

The present technology relates to the production and recovery of acetic acid. The recovery processes may include providing a first process stream including acetic acid and greater than 250 ppm of propionic acid; separating at least a portion of the propionic acid from the acetic acid within the first process stream to provide an acetic acid stream including acetic acid and less than 250 ppm of propionic acid and a bottoms stream including propionic acid and acetic acid; reacting the bottoms stream to form a product stream including components of respectively lower boiling points than corresponding components in the bottoms stream; and separating components of the product stream to form an overhead stream including one or more acetates and a bottoms stream including one or more propionates.

Recovery of acetic acid

Processes for producing acetic acid are presented herein. One or more embodiments include processes for controlling downstream water concentration in acetic acid production process including contacting methanol and carbon monoxide in the presence of a reaction medium under carbonylation conditions sufficient to form a carbonylation product including acetic acid, wherein the reaction medium includes a carbonylation catalyst, water in an upstream water concentration of from 1 wt. % to 14 wt. % water, and a tertiary phosphine oxide; recovering acetic acid from the carbonylation product; and controlling a downstream water concentration by determining a target water concentration and introducing the tertiary phosphine oxide to the reaction medium at a rate, basicity, concentration or combination thereof sufficient to provide a downstream water concentration within 1 wt. % of the target water concentration.

Water control in acetic acid production processes

The phase separation in the decanter of a process for producing acetic acid by carbonylating methanol in the presence of a catalyst under low water-high acid conditions is improved by forming a liquid mixture (D) which has a water content of at most 20% by weight, based on the weight of the liquid mixture, and a weight ratio of acetic acid to water of at least 1:1, and partitioning the liquid mixture by providing for an alkane(s) content of D of from 0.1 to 15% by weight, based on the weight of D, to obtain a light, aqueous phase and a heavy, organic phase.

Process for the manufacture of acetic acid

The phase separation in the decanter of a process for producing acetic acid by carbonylating methanol in the presence of a catalyst under low water-high acid conditions is facilitated and expedited by forming a liquid mixture (D) which has a water content of at most 10% by weight, based on the weight of the liquid mixture, an acetic acid content of at least 10% by weight, based on the weight of the liquid mixture, and a weight ratio of methyl iodide to methyl acetate of at least 1.5:1, and partitioning the liquid mixture at a temperature of from 0 to 35&#xb0; C.

Disclosed is a method for controlling the decanter phase separation of an acetic acid production by methanol carbonylation. The method comprises measuring the methyl acetate concentration of the reactor mixture, calculating the density of the decanter heavy, organic phase according to the measured methyl acetate concentration, and adjusting the conditions in the reactor or in the decanter to ensure phase separation of the decanter.

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Beach City, TX, United States of America

John D Hearn