Process for separating carbon dioxide and argon from hydrocarbons
AssigneeSabic Global Technologies B.V.
InventorJintang Duan
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Abstract
Systems and methods for producing ethylene oxide (EO) are disclosed. Ethylene oxide is produced by direct oxidizing ethylene with oxygen in a reactor. The effluent from the reactor is processed to produce (a) a product stream comprising water and ethylene oxide, (b) a reabsorber overhead stream comprising ethylene, methane, argon, and carbon dioxide, and (c) a carbonate flash gas stream comprising carbon dioxide, ethylene, methane, and water. The reabsorber overhead stream and the carbonate flash gas stream are combined to form a reclaim gas stream. The reclaimed gas stream is separated in a membrane separation unit to remove carbon dioxide and argon, forming a recycle stream comprising primarily ethylene and methane, collectively.
Claims19
A method of producing ethylene oxide, the method comprising:
- reacting ethylene with a gas comprising oxygen in a reactor to produce a reactor effluent comprising ethylene oxide, carbon dioxide, unreacted ethylene, oxygen, methane, and argon;
- processing the reactor effluent to produce (a) a product stream comprising 5 to 15 wt. % ethylene oxide, (b) a reabsorber overhead stream comprising 20 to 50 wt. % ethylene and 10 to 30 wt. % methane, 1 to 10 wt. % argon, and 20 to 50 wt. % carbon dioxide and (c) a carbonate flash gas stream comprising 10 to 50 wt. % carbon dioxide, 5 to 45 wt. % ethylene, 5% to 10 wt. % methane, and 40% to 60% water;
- combining the reabsorber overhead stream and the carbonate flash gas stream to produce a reclaim gas stream;
- removing carbon dioxide and argon from the reclaim gas stream by a membrane separation unit to form a (1) recycle gas stream comprising ethylene and methane and (2) a gas stream comprising the removed carbon dioxide and the removed argon;
- and
- flowing the recycle gas stream to the reactor.
A method of producing ethylene oxide, the method comprising:
- reacting ethylene with a gas comprising oxygen in a reactor to produce a reactor effluent comprising ethylene oxide, carbon dioxide, unreacted ethylene, oxygen, methane, and argon;
- processing the reactor effluent to produce (a) a product stream comprising 5 to 15 wt. % ethylene oxide, (b) a reabsorber overhead stream comprising 20 to 50 wt. % ethylene and 10 to 30 wt. % methane, 1 to 10 wt. % argon, and 20 to 50 wt. % carbon dioxide and (c) a carbonate flash gas stream comprising 10 to 50 wt. % carbon dioxide, 5 to 45 wt. % ethylene, 5% to 10 wt. % methane, and 40% to 60% water;
- combining the reabsorber overhead stream and the carbonate flash gas stream to produce a reclaim gas stream;
- removing carbon dioxide and argon from the reclaim gas stream by a membrane separation unit to form a (1) recycle gas stream comprising ethylene and methane and (2) a gas stream comprising the removed carbon dioxide and the removed argon;
- and
- flowing the recycle gas stream to the reactor, wherein the membrane separation unit comprises a membrane module, wherein the membrane module comprises a cellulose acetate/diacetate/triacetate membrane, a perfluoro polymer membrane, a polysulfone membrane, a polycarbonate membrane, a poly (phenylene oxide) membrane, or combinations thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.