Methods and systems for performing chemical separations
AssigneeLummus Technology Inc.
InventorsDivya Jonnavittula, Gaurav Chachra, Guido Radaelli
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Abstract
The present disclosure provides a method for generating higher hydrocarbon(s) from a stream comprising compounds with two or more carbon atoms (C2+), comprising introducing methane and an oxidant (e.g., O2) into an oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) reactor. The OCM reactor reacts the methane with the oxidant to generate a first product stream comprising the C2+ compounds. The first product stream can then be directed to a separations unit that recovers at least a portion of the C2+ compounds from the first product stream to yield a second product stream comprising the at least the portion of the C2+ compounds.
Claims18
A method for generating compounds with two or more carbon atoms (C2+ compounds), comprising:
- (a) directing oxygen (O2) and methane (CH4) into an oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) reactor that reacts the O2 and the CH4 in an OCM process to yield a product stream comprising (i) C2+ compounds including olefins and paraffins and (ii) carbon dioxide (CO2);
- and
- (b) directing the product stream from the OCM reactor into a separations unit that selectively adsorbs the olefins from the paraffins, wherein the separations unit comprises (i) a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) unit, (ii) a temperature swing adsorption (TSA) unit, or (iii) a membrane unit, and wherein the PSA unit, the TSA unit or the membrane unit comprises a sorbent that selectively adsorbs the olefins;
- (c) desorbing the olefins from the sorbent to generate an olefins stream comprising olefins and CO2;
- and
- (d) directing the olefins stream to a CO2 removal unit to remove CO2 from the olefins stream.
A method for generating compounds with two or more carbon atoms (C2+ compounds), comprising:
- (a) directing oxygen (O2) and methane (CH4) into an oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) reactor that reacts the O2 and CH4 in an OCM process to yield a product stream comprising C2+ compounds comprising olefins including ethylene (C2H2) and propylene (C3H6) and paraffins including ethane (C2H6), unreacted CH4, carbon dioxide (CO2), and hydrogen (H2);
- (b) directing the product stream into a first separations unit containing an adsorbent that produces (i) a bottoms stream comprising the C2+ compounds and the CO2 and (ii) an overhead stream enriched with the unreacted CH4 and H2,
- (c) directing the bottoms stream to a second separations unit containing a metal organic framework (MOF) that selectively adsorbs olefins over paraffins;
- (d) desorbing olefins from the MOF in the second separations unit to generate a desorbed olefins stream comprising the olefins and the CO2;
- and
- (e) directing the desorbed olefins stream to a CO2 removal unit to remove CO2 from the desorbed olefins stream to generate a substantially CO2-free olefins stream.
A method for generating compounds with two or more carbon atoms (C2+ compounds), comprising:
- (a) directing oxygen (O2) and methane (CH4) into an oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) reactor having a catalytic section and a cracking section to produce an OCM product stream, which catalytic section reacts the O2 and CH4 to yield ethylene (C2H4), ethane (C2H6) and heat, which cracking section uses the heat to convert C2H6 into C2H4, and wherein the OCM product stream comprises C2+ compounds including C2H6, un-reacted CH4, carbon dioxide (CO2), and hydrogen (H2);
- (b) directing the OCM product stream into a first separations unit comprising an adsorbent that produces (i) a first light stream comprising un-reacted CH4, H2, and a first portion of the CO2 and (ii) a first heavy stream comprising C2H4, C2H6, and a second portion of the CO2;
- (c) directing the first heavy stream to a CO2 removal unit to separate the second portion of the CO2 from the first heavy stream to produce a CO2-free first heavy stream;
- and (d) directing the CO2-free first heavy stream to a second separations unit comprising a metal organic framework (MOF) to separate the CO2-free first heavy stream into a second light stream comprising C2H6 and a second heavy stream comprising C2H4.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.