Process for producing olefins from alcohols

Abstract

The invention relates to a process for producing olefins from alcohols by means of catalytic dehydration. More in particular, the present invention relates to a process for producing at least one olefin by dehydrating at least one alcohol having a number of carbon atoms comprised between 2 and 6, preferably comprised between 2 and 4, more preferably at least one alcohol having a number of carbon atoms of 3, even more preferably 2-propanol, in the presence of a catalytic material comprising at least one large pore zeolite in acid form, or predominantly acid form, preferably selected from the group consisting of zeolites having BEA structure, MTW structure and mixtures thereof, and preferably at least one inorganic binder, more preferably alumina. Preferably, the olefin has the same number of carbon atoms as the starting alcohol. Furthermore, preferably the olefin does not contain conjugated double bonds and more preferably the olefin is a mono-olefin. Subject matter of the present invention is also the use of the aforementioned olefin in an alkylation process of aromatic hydrocarbons, in particular the use of propylene for alkylating benzene to provide cumene. The aforementioned cumene can be used in an integrated process for preparing phenol and acetone, in accordance with the Hock method, wherein acetone can be reduced to 2-propanol, to be recycled to the process of the invention to obtain propylene again.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.