Chlor-alkali and carbon monoxide electrolyzer integration
AssigneeDioxycle
InventorsRuperto G Mariano, Joshua A. Rabinowitz, Sarah Lamaison, David Wakerley
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Abstract
Integrations of carbon monoxide electrolyzers and chlor-alkali electrolyzers are disclosed herein. The disclosed integrations include novel process chains for the valorization of oxocarbons into hydrochloric acid, vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate, ethylene oxide, and other useful chemicals. The disclosed integrations further include novel ways to operate the electrolyzers in tandem to increase the efficiency of both reactors. This disclosure also includes novel ways to balance the operation of both electrolyzers to assure they are operating at an optimal level to take advantage of the benefits of the disclosed integrations.
Claims10
A method comprising:
- generating a volume of chlorine gas using a chlor-alkali reactor;
- generating a volume of ethylene using a carbon monoxide electrolyzer and a volume of carbon monoxide;
- generating a volume of ethylene dichloride using an ethylene chlorination reactor, the volume of chlorine gas, and the volume of ethylene;
- generating a volume of vinyl chloride using an ethylene dichloride to vinyl chloride reactor and the volume of ethylene dichloride;
- separating the volume of vinyl chloride and a volume of hydrochloric acid from an output stream of the vinyl chloride reactor;
- acidifying an output stream of the carbon monoxide electrolyzer, including an electrolyte of the carbon monoxide electrolyzer in the form of a metal hydroxide;
- converting, via the acidifying, the metal hydroxide in the output stream into a volume of a metal salt;
- supplying the volume of metal salt to the chlor-alkali reactor;
- generating a volume of the metal hydroxide using the metal salt and the chlor-alkali reactor;
- and
- supplying the volume of the metal hydroxide to the carbon monoxide electrolyzer to be used as the electrolyte.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.