Johnson Matthey Davy Technologies Limited

Dow Technology Investments LLC

Martin Smidt

Glenn A Miller

Adrian Lord

Michael A Brammer

Rick B Watson

George R Phillips

Michael C Becker

Graham Reed

Ian Campbell

Paul Gordon

David Welch

Christopher Ferguson

Atul Manilal Shah

Thomas Carl Eisenschmid

Morteza Mokhtarzadeh

Irvin B Cox

Cloid Russell Smith, Iii

Jason F Giles

Edward Adrian Lord

Victoria L Biedenstein

Fraser Robert Archibald

Stephane Wambergue

A process for the production of normal-butanol, iso-butanol and 2-alkyl alkanol is disclosed. The process comprises: hydrogenating a feed comprising normal butyraldehyde, iso-butyraldehyde and 2-alkyl alkenal to form a crude product stream comprising normal-butanol, iso-butanol, 2-alkyl alkanol, unreacted normal butyraldehyde, unreacted iso-butyraldehyde and one or more of unreacted 2-alkyl alkenal, 2-alkyl alkanal or 2-alkyl alkenol; separating the crude product stream to produce: a mixed butanol stream having higher concentrations of normal butanol, iso-butanol, unreacted normal butyraldehyde and unreacted iso-butyraldehyde than the crude product stream; and a crude 2-alkyl alkanol stream having higher concentrations of 2-alkyl alkanol and the one or more of unreacted 2-alkyl alkenal, 2-alkyl alkanal or 2-alkyl alkenol than the crude product stream; separating the mixed butanol stream to produce: a refined normal butanol stream having a higher concentration of normal butanol than the mixed butanol stream; and a crude iso-butanol stream having a higher concentration of iso-butanol than the mixed butanol stream; feeding the crude iso-butanol stream to a first polishing hydrogenation reactor wherein at least some of the unreacted iso-butyraldehyde is converted to iso-butanol to produce a polished iso-butanol stream; separating the polished iso-butanol stream to produce: a refined iso-butanol stream having a higher concentration of iso-butanol than the polished iso-butanol stream; and a light waste stream; separating the crude 2-alkyl alkanol stream to produce: an intermediate 2-alkyl alkanol stream having higher concentrations of 2-alkyl alkanol and the one or more of unreacted 2-alkyl alkenal, 2-alkyl alkanal or 2-alkyl alkenol than the crude 2-alkyl alkanol stream; and a heavy waste stream; feeding the intermediate 2-alkyl alkanol stream to a second polishing hydrogenation reactor wherein at least some of the one or more of unreacted 2-alkyl alkenal, 2-alkyl alkanal or 2-alkyl alkenol is converted to 2-alkyl alkanol to produce a polished 2-alkyl alkanol stream having a higher concentration of 2-alkyl alkanol than the intermediate 2-alkyl alkanol stream; separating the polished 2-alkyl alkanol stream to produce: a refined 2-alkyl alkanol stream having a higher concentration of 2-alkyl alkanol than the polished 2-alkyl alkanol stream; and an intermediate waste stream.

Process for making a feed of normal butanol, iso-butanol and 2-alkyl alkanol

A process for the separation of an aldehyde and a second component from a feed stream () comprising the aldehyde and the second component, said process comprising: providing the feed stream to one or both of a first separation vessel () operating at a first pressure and a second separation vessel () operating at a second pressure wherein said second pressure () is greater than said first pressure; operating said first separation vessel () and said second separation vessel () such that separation occurs; recovering an aldehyde product stream () from at or near the bottom of the first separation vessel (), said aldehyde product stream () having a concentration of aldehyde which is higher than that in the feed stream (); recovering a second component stream () from at or near the top of the second separation vessel (), said second component stream having a concentration of second component which is higher than in the feed stream (); removing a first recycle stream () from at or near the top of the first separation vessel () and feeding it to the second separation vessel (); and removing a second recycle stream () from at or near the bottom of the second separation vessel () and feeding it to the first separation vessel ().

Process for recovering aldehyde obtained by hydroformulation in two columns with increasing pressure

The present invention relate to processes for converting olefins to alcohols, ethers, or combinations thereof that are suitable for use as a gasoline additive. In one embodiment, the process comprises (a) receiving a feed stream, wherein the feed stream comprises one or more olefins having 2 to 5 carbon atoms in an amount of up to 80% by weight based on the weight of the feed stream; (b) hydroformylating the feed stream in the presence of a catalyst to convert at least 80% of the olefins from the feed stream to oxygenates; (c) separating a product stream from step (b) into an oxygenate stream and a stream comprising unreacted olefins, inerts, the catalyst, and the remaining oxygenates; and (d) treating the oxygenate stream to convert a plurality of the oxygenates into at least one of an alcohol, an ether, or combinations thereof is suitable for use as a gasoline additive.

Process for converting olefins to alcohols, ethers, or combinations thereof

A process for the production of 2-alkylalkanol from an aldehyde is disclosed. The process comprises the steps of: feeding aldehyde to a reactor () operated under condensation and dehydration conditions such that reaction occurs and an unsaturated aldehyde is produced; recovering a stream from the reactor () comprising the unsaturated aldehyde and feeding said stream to a first hydrogenation reactor () operated under conditions such that at least some of the unsaturated aldehyde is converted to 2-alkylalkanol; recovering the stream from the first hydrogenation reactor () comprising the 2-alkylalkanol, one or more of unreacted acrolein, alkylalkenol and alkylalkanal and heavies; passing the stream recovered from the first hydrogenation reactor () to a first distillation zone () where at least some of the heavies are separated from the stream; recovering a stream from the first distillation zone () comprising the 2-alkylalkanol, one or more of unreacted acrolein, alkylalkenol and alkylalkanal, said stream having a reduced heavies content when compared to the stream fed to the first distillation zone (), and feeding said stream to a second hydrogenation reactor () operated under conditions such that at least one of the unreacted acrolein, alkylalkenol and alkylalkanal are converted to 2-alkylalkanol; and recovering a stream from the second hydrogenation reactor () comprising an increased 2-alkylalkanol content compared to the stream fed to the second hydrogenation reactor ().

Process for the production of 2-alkylalkanol

A process for the distillation of an aldehyde mixture comprising a straight-chain aldehyde and a branched-chain aldehyde is described in which the process comprises: supplying a feed comprising the aldehyde mixture to a first separation vessel; operating said first separation vessel at a first temperature and a first pressure such that separation occurs; recovering a first stream comprising the straight-chain aldehyde from said first separation vessel and supplying said first stream to a second separation vessel; operating said second separation vessel at a second temperature and a second pressure such that separation occurs; recovering a product stream comprising the straight-chain aldehyde and a second stream comprising high-boiling components from said second separation vessel, and supplying said second stream to a third separation vessel; operating said third separation vessel at a third temperature and a third pressure such that separation occurs; and recovering a third stream comprising the aldehyde mixture from said third separation vessel and reintroducing said third stream to the first separation vessel.

Process for the distillation of an aldehyde mixture

The present invention relates generally to hydroformylation processes. In one embodiment, a process of the present invention comprises: (a) contacting CO, H, and at least one olefin under hydroformylation conditions sufficient to form at least one aldehyde product in the presence of a hydroformylation catalyst; (b) removing a product-containing liquid from the reaction zone and sending it to a vaporizer, which comprises a vaporizing zone and a vapor/liquid separation zone, wherein the product-containing liquid, which comprises crude product and catalyst, is heated in the vaporizing zone to form a mixture of gas and catalyst-containing liquid, which mixture is then phase separated in the separation zone, which separation zone has a liquid withdrawal port, a liquid region, a vapor space and a gas-liquid interface, wherein the liquid region comprises at least one divider plate, which optionally contains at least one perforation, wherein at least a portion of at least one divider plate is in proximity to the gas-liquid interface, with the proviso that at least a portion of at least one divider plate is at or below the interface, and wherein the temperature of the catalyst-containing liquid, measured at the liquid withdrawal port, is lower than the temperature of the vapor space.

Hydroformylation process

A process for production of dialkyl succinate from bio-succinic acid feedstock where solid bio-succinic acid is fed to a reactor to react with alkanol by autocatalytic esterification. Products from the reactor including unreacted succinic acid, mono alkyl ester, dialkyl ester, alkanol, water and impurities are sent to a reaction distillation column for esterification of succinic acid and further esterification of mono alkyl ester with upflowing alkanol. The bottoms products from the reaction distillation column including residual succinic acid, mono alkyl ester, dialkyl ester, impurities and alkanol are sent to a bottoms stream separation zone where di-alkyl ester is separated from alkanol, succinic acid, mono alkyl ester and impurities. The tops products from the reaction distillation column including alkanol, water and organic components are sent to a top stream distillation zone where alkanol is separated from water and organic components. The organic components are recycled to the reaction zone column.

Process for the preparation of succinic acid ester

A multi-reaction train hydroformylation process wherein a common product-catalyst separation zone is employed.

A process for the production of dialkyl succinate from a bio-succinic acid feedstock commencing by feeding bio-succinic acid to a reaction distillation column to enable esterification of the succinic acid. The feedstock is passed co-currently with upflowing alkanol such that an esterification reaction occurs. An overhead vapor stream is removed from the reaction distillation column comprising di-ester, alkanol, water of esterification and organic components. The vapor stream is sent to an alkanol separation column where alkanol is separated from the water of esterification and organic components. A side draw is removed from the alkanol separation column comprising partially immiscible organic and aqueous phases. The side draw is passed to a phase separation apparatus where the partially immiscible organic and aqueous phases are separated. The organic phase is passed to a column where the dialkyl succinate is recovered from residual water and other organic components.

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London, United Kingdom

Martin Smidt