Minimizing water content in ethanolamine product streams
AssigneeSabic Global Technologies B.V.
InventorNaeem Al-Hazmi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and method are provided for reducing the water content from approximately 0.15%-0.19% by weight to approximately 0.01-0.03% by weight in an ethanolamine product stream in a non-reactive distillation column. The reduced water content can be achieved by increasing the processing conditions at the drying column by approximately 5% to approximately 20%, more preferably to approximately 10%. The increased processing conditions at the drying column can result in an increased bottom stream flow rate and an increased reboiler duty. The reboiler duty of the drying column can be increased by up to 2% to achieve said level of water content. The bottom stream flow rate can be increased by up to approximately 12% to achieve said level of water content.
Claims19
A method for producing an ethanolamine product stream in a non-reactive distillation column, comprising:
- mixing an ammonia solution comprising 30% to 40% by weight ammonia with ethylene oxide in a reactor to create a resultant product stream, wherein said resultant product stream comprises ethanolamines, unreacted ammonia and water;
- removing 30% to 50% by weight of the unreacted ammonia and 50% to 70% by weight of water from the resultant product stream to create a stripped product stream, wherein the stripped product stream comprises ethanolamines and 30% to 50% by weight of water;
- operating a vacuum drying column at adjusted processing conditions, wherein said processing conditions are selected from:
- the stripped product stream flow rate, reflux rate at the vacuum drying column, condenser heat duty at the vacuum drying column, reboiler heat duty at the vacuum drying column, bottom rate at the vacuum drying column and a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing, and where said adjusted processing conditions are 5% to 20% above a base case value of the selected processing conditions, wherein the base case value comprises the stripped product stream at a flow rate of 14,798 kg/hr, a reflux rate of 1,600 kg/hr, a condenser heat duty of 8,860 kiloWatts, a reboiler heat duty of 7,483 kiloWatts, and a bottom rate of 14,798 kg/hr;
- transferring the stripped product stream to a stage of the vacuum drying column to create a dehydrated product stream;
- and
- removing a portion of residual water from the stripped product stream at the vacuum drying column to create a dehydrated product stream, wherein said dehydrated product stream comprises ethanolamines and 0.01% to 0.03% by weight of water.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.