Shell Oil Comapny

Rudolf J Maas

George C Blytas

Johan G Bitter

Jacobus Hendrikus Scheerman

Andreas B Van Aken

Rene M Visser

Christiaan Van Schalkwijk

A process for preparing a stream enriched in para-xylene from a mixture of para-xylene with other aromatic hydrocarbons which comprises contacting the mixture with a particular modified crystalline silicate and subsequently desorbing the para-xylene enriched stream from the silicate.

Process for the selective adsorption of para-xylene

A process for sour water treatment in which the sour components are removed from a sour water stream in an electrodialysis step in which the sour water stream becomes the dilute stream. A resulting concentrate stream, richer in the sour components than the original stream is then steam stripped. In order to balance the acid and basic components in the dilute stream the component lacking may be added to the stream. In order to prevent build-up of non-strippable components in the concentrate stream a part of the latter is recombined with the dilute stream either before or after the electrodialysis step.

Process for sour water treatment

An improved process is described for the preparation of 2,3,5-trimethylhydroquinone by catalytically oxidizing a trimethylphenol selected from the class consisting of 2,3,5-trimethylphenol, 2,3,6-trimethylphenol and mixtures thereof with oxygen in the presence of a cobalt chelate catalyst complex in a dimethylformamide solvent to form 2,3,5-trimethyl-p-benzoquinone which is subsequently hydrogenated to 2,3,5-trimethylhydroquinone by reaction with hydrogen in the presence of a noble metal catalyst. In this improved process, the 2,3,5-trimethyl-p-benzoquinone-containing reaction mixture from catalytic oxidation is contacted with di-n-butyl ether and water to form a di-n-butyl ether phase containing the 2,3,5-trimethyl-p-benzoquinone, a precipitate comprising the cobalt catalyst and an aqueous phase containing the dimethylformamide solvent, said di-n-butyl ether phase being subsequently separated from the precipitate and aqueous phase and passed to the catalytic hydrogenation reaction where the di-n-butyl ether functions as the reaction solvent.

Growing community of inventors

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Rudolf J Maas