Non-aromatic compound removal systems for para-xylene production
AssigneeExxonMobil Engineering & Technology Company
InventorsBhupender S. Minhas, Jeevan S. Abichandani, Marcus L. H. Van Nuland, Wai Kit Cheng, Chong-Jhoo Wang, Robert G. Tinger
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Abstract
Selective removal of non-aromatic hydrocarbons from a xylene isomerization process for para-xylene production is accomplished using a membrane unit positioned within a xylene recovery loop. The membrane unit may include a one-stage or multi-stage (e.g., two-stage) membrane system and may be configured to separate a membrane unit product stream from a non-aromatics rich stream, which can be removed from the xylene recovery loop. The membrane unit may have a xylene permeance of about 60 gm/m2/hr/psi and a xylene to non-aromatic permeance ratio of about 15.
Claims9
A method for removing non-aromatic compounds from a para-xylene production process, comprising:
- feeding a reformate stock stream through a membrane unit, the membrane unit producing a non-aromatics rich stream and a membrane unit product stream;
- feeding the membrane unit product stream into a xylene splitter, the xylene splitter producing a mixed xylene stream, the mixed xylene stream comprising para-xylene, ortho-xylene, and meta-xylene;
- processing the mixed xylene stream in a para-xylene recovery unit, the para-xylene recovery unit producing a para-xylene lean stream;
- processing the para-xylene lean stream in an isomerization unit, the isomerization unit producing an isomerization unit product stream;
- feeding the isomerization unit product stream into a deheptanizer unit, the deheptanizer unit producing a xylene rich stream;
- processing the xylene rich stream through a clay treater, the clay treater producing a clay treated stream;
- and
- feeding the clay treated stream into the xylene splitter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.