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US 11,312,671 B2Granted
Process for the controlled oligomerization of butenes
AssigneeLummus Technology Inc.
InventorsRosette Barias, Liang Chen, Michael Jon Scott
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The selective dimerization of isoolefins, such as isobutene or isopentane, or mixtures thereof, may be conducted in a system including a series of fixed bed reactors and a catalytic distillation reactor. The system may provide for conveyance of the fixed bed reactor effluents, without componential separation, to a downstream reactor. It has been found that a high selectivity to the dimer may be achieved even though intermediate separation of the desired product from unreacted components between reactors is not performed. Further, embodiments provide for use of a divided wall column for recovery of a high purity dimer product, reducing unit piece count and plot size.
Claims16
A process for the dimerization of olefins and/or isoolefins, the process comprising:
- feeding an oxygenate reaction modifier and a mixed hydrocarbon feed to a fixed bed reactor containing an oligomerization catalyst, the mixed hydrocarbon feed comprising isobutene and optionally one or more of isobutane, n-butane, 1-butene, and 2-butene;
- reacting isobutene in the fixed bed reactor at oligomerization conditions to form a reaction effluent comprising reaction modifier, isobutene dimers, unreacted isobutene, any oxygenate high-boiling reaction byproducts formed, as well as any unreacted isobutane, n-butane, 1-butene, and 2-butene;
- without componential separation, feeding the reaction effluent to a second fixed bed reactor containing an oligomerization catalyst;
- reacting the unreacted isobutene in the second fixed bed reactor at oligomerization conditions to form additional isobutene dimers, recovering a second reaction effluent comprising reaction modifier, isobutene dimers, any oxygenate high-boiling reaction byproducts formed, as well as any unreacted isobutane, n-butane, 1-butene, and 2-butene;
- without componential separation, feeding the second reaction effluent to a catalytic distillation reactor having a reactive distillation zone comprising an oligomerization catalyst;
- concurrently within the catalytic distillation reactor:
- reacting unreacted isobutene in the second reaction effluent to form additional isobutene dimers;
- separating the dimers and any oxygenate high-boiling reaction byproducts, recovered as a bottoms fraction, from the isobutane, n-butane, and any unreacted isobutene, 1-butene, and 2-butene, recovered as an overheads fraction.
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A process for the dimerization of olefins and/or isoolefins, the process comprising:
- feeding an oxygenate reaction modifier and a mixed hydrocarbon feed to a fixed bed reactor containing an oligomerization catalyst, the mixed hydrocarbon feed comprising C4 hydrocarbons, C5 hydrocarbons, or a mixture of C4 and C5 hydrocarbons, the mixed hydrocarbons each respectively including isoolefins, n-olefins, isoparaffins and n-paraffins;
- reacting isoolefins in the fixed bed reactor at oligomerization conditions to form a reaction effluent comprising reaction modifier, isoolefin dimers, unreacted isoolefin, any oxygenate high-boiling reaction byproducts formed, as well as any unreacted isoparaffins, n-paraffins, and n-olefins;
- without componential separation, feeding the reaction effluent to a second fixed bed reactor containing an oligomerization catalyst;
- reacting the unreacted isoolefins in the second fixed bed reactor at oligomerization conditions to form additional isoolefin dimers, recovering a second reaction effluent comprising reaction modifier, isoolefin dimers, any oxygenate high-boiling reaction byproducts formed, as well as any unreacted isoparaffins, n-paraffins, and n-olefins;
- without componential separation, feeding the second reaction effluent to a catalytic distillation reactor having a reactive distillation zone comprising an oligomerization catalyst;
- concurrently within the catalytic distillation reactor:
- reacting unreacted isoolefins in the second reaction effluent to form additional isoolefin dimers;
- separating the dimers and any oxygenate high-boiling reaction byproducts, recovered as a bottoms fraction, from the isoparaffin, n-paraffin, and any unreacted isoolefin and n-olefin, recovered as an overheads fraction.
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A system for the selective dimerization of olefins and/or isoolefins, the system comprising:
- a feed stream for conveying an oxygenate reaction modifier from an oxygenate reaction modifier supply system;
- a feed stream for conveying a mixed hydrocarbon feed from a mixed hydrocarbon supply system, the mixed hydrocarbon feed comprising C4 hydrocarbons, C5 hydrocarbons, or a mixture of C4 and C5 hydrocarbons, the mixed hydrocarbons each respectively including isoolefins, n-olefins, isoparaffins and n-paraffins;
- a fixed bed reactor containing an oligomerization catalyst, the fixed bed reactor being configured to receive the mixed hydrocarbon feed and the oxygenate reaction modifier and for reacting isoolefins in the fixed bed reactor at oligomerization conditions to form a reaction effluent comprising reaction modifier, isoolefin dimers, unreacted isoolefin, any oxygenate high-boiling reaction byproducts formed, as well as any unreacted isoparaffins, n-paraffins, and n-olefins;
- a flow line for providing, without intermediate componential separation, the reaction effluent from the fixed bed reactor to a second fixed bed reactor containing an oligomerization catalyst and configured to react the unreacted isoolefins in the second fixed bed reactor at oligomerization conditions to form additional isoolefin dimers, recovering a second reaction effluent comprising reaction modifier, isoolefin dimers, any oxygenate high-boiling reaction byproducts formed, as well as any unreacted isoparaffins, n-paraffins, and n-olefins;
- a flow line for conveying, without componential separation, the second reaction effluent from the second fixed bed reactor to a catalytic distillation reactor, having a reactive distillation zone comprising an oligomerization catalyst, and configured for:
- reacting unreacted isoolefins in the second reaction effluent to form additional isoolefin dimers;
- separating the dimers and any oxygenate high-boiling reaction byproducts, recovered as a bottoms fraction, from the isoparaffin, n-paraffin, and any unreacted isoolefin and n-olefin, recovered as an overheads fraction.
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.