The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 14, 1996
Filed:
Mar. 30, 1994
Joseph C Gentry, Houston, TX (US);
Glitsch International, Inc., Dallas, TX (US);
Abstract
An improvement to a known process in which C.sub.8 aromatic hydrocarbons are treated to recover a desired isomer of xylene, and in particular o-xylene or p-xylene. A step in recovering isomers of xylene typically includes subjecting a mixture of xylenes to fractional distillation and drawing a stream rich in o-xylene from the fractionation column. The current improvement involves the steps of contacting the contents of the fractionation column with an isomerization catalyst, thereby isomerizing C.sub.8 aromatic hydrocarbons in the fractionation column toward equilibrium and consequently enhancing the effectiveness of the fractional distillation in the recovery of the desired xylene isomer. The process can be carried out in the xylene splitter of existing apparatus by making appropriate modifications thereto. It also can be carried out in newly-designed and fabricated apparatus. Embodiments are disclosed for favoring the production either of o-xylene or p-xylene.