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. 12, 1998
Filed:
Nov. 09, 1995
Terry L Marker, Warrenville, IL (US);
Brian S Muldoon, Willowbrook, IL (US);
Bryan K Glover, Algonquin, IL (US);
Bipin V Vora, Darien, IL (US);
UOP, Des Plaines, IL (US);
Abstract
An integrated process to produce diisopropyl ether from propane has been developed. In a first reaction zone the propane in a feedstock, after any hydrocarbons containing four or more carbon atoms are removed from the feedstock via fractionation, is dehydrogenated in the presence of a dehydrogenation catalyst to form propylene. After removing hydrogen, the propane and propylene mixture generated in the first reaction zone is separated into a propane enriched stream and a propylene enriched stream where the propylene enriched stream contains at least 65 mass % propylene. The propane enriched stream is recycled to the feedstock fractionation unit, and the propylene of the propylene enriched stream is reacted with water in a second reaction zone in the presence of an acidic catalyst to form isopropyl alcohol which is concurrently reacted with propylene to produce diisopropyl ether. A portion of the second reaction zone effluent is recycled to the second reaction zone, and the remainder may be collected or further separated to provide a high purity diisopropyl ether product. A variant to produce high purity propylene as well as diisopropyl ether is also discussed.