Use of Predehydration Towers In an Ethane Oxidation To Acetic Acid/Ethylene Process
AssigneeCelanese International Corporation
InventorsC. V. McSwain, George C. Seaman
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Abstract
Described herein is a process in which acetic acid is produced by ethane oxidation. One byproduct of the ethane oxidation is water, which is commonly removed from the process in the same stream as the acetic acid process. As described herein, the ethane oxidation reactor effluent is processed in a predehydration tower so as to separately recover water, acetic acid, and a gas stream for recycle back to the ethane oxidation reactor.
Claims20
A process for the production of acetic acid, comprising:
- oxidizing ethane in an ethane oxidation reactor to form a product stream comprising water, acetic acid, and ethane, and
- processing the product stream in a tower to separately recover a bottoms stream comprising at least about 90 percent acetic acid, a water stream comprising less than about 1 percent acetic acid, and a gas stream comprising ethylene and unreacted ethane.
An apparatus for manufacturing acetic acid, comprising:
- an ethane oxidation reactor in communication with an ethane source, an oxygen source, a recycle stream, and an outlet stream;
- a predehydration tower in communication with the outlet stream and an overhead gas stream;
- and
- a COx converter in communication with the overhead gas stream and the recycle stream.
An apparatus for manufacturing acetic acid, comprising:
- an ethane oxidation reactor in communication with an ethane source, an oxygen source, a recycle stream, and an outlet stream;
- a predehydration tower in communication with the outlet stream, an acetic acid stream, and an overhead gas stream;
- a condenser in communication with the overhead gas stream;
- and
- a reboiler in communication with the acetic acid stream.
The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising a COx converter in communication with the overhead gas stream and the recycle stream.
An apparatus for manufacturing acetic acid, comprising:
- means for oxidizing ethane to produce a product stream comprising water, acetic acid, and ethane;
- and
- means for processing the process stream to separately recover a bottoms stream comprising at least about 90 percent acetic acid, a water stream comprising less than about 1 percent acetic acid, and a gas stream comprising ethylene and unreacted ethane.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.