Process and apparatus for ethanol dehydration

Abstract

The present invention provides a process for the preparation of ethene by vapour phase chemical dehydration of ethanol using an adiabatic reactor, wherein the interior of the adiabatic reactor is separated into at least three reaction zones, comprising a first reaction zone, at least one intermediate reaction zone and a final reaction zone, and wherein each zone contains an ethanol dehydration catalyst; said process comprising the steps of; a) feeding a pre-heated reactant feed-stream into an inlet of the first reaction zone; b) extracting an effluent-stream from an outlet of the first reaction zone; c) feeding said effluent-stream into an inlet of a subsequent intermediate reaction zone; d) extracting an effluent-stream from an outlet of the intermediate reaction zone; e) repeating steps (c) and (d) for any subsequent intermediate reaction zones, if present; f) feeding, into an inlet of the final reaction zone, the effluent-stream from the preceding intermediate reaction zone; g) extracting a product stream from an outlet of the final reaction zone; wherein the effluent-streams are re-heated prior to being fed into a subsequent reaction zone by means of one or more heat exchangers and; and wherein a single heat exchanger simultaneously re-heats at least two of the effluent-streams, such that no more than one heat exchanger is present for every two effluent-streams being re-heated in the process.