Flexible manufacturing system for selectively producing different linear alpha olefins

Abstract

A flexible manufacturing system for selectively producing different alpha-olefins from ethylene includes: (a) a reaction sectionwith ethylene feed operative to oligomerize ethylene; (b) a catalyst feed systemcomprising a plurality of independent homogeneous catalyst feeders connected with the reaction section for alternatively providing different selective homogeneous catalyst compositions to the reaction section; (c) an ethylene recycle columncoupled to the reaction section and adapted to receive crude product and unreacted ethylene therefrom, the recycle column being operative to separate ethylene and optionally lower oligomers from the crude product which are recycled to the ethylene feed to the reaction section, the ethylene recycle column being further operative to provide a crude product bottoms stream; (d) a catalyst removal sectioncoupled to the reaction section adapted to remove spent catalyst from the system; and (e) a first product separation columnconnected to the recycle column receiving the crude product stream therefrom, the product separation column being operative to separate purified oligomer from the crude product stream. Optionally provided is a second product separation column