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US 2012/0238786 A1Published application
Reduction of Acid Within Column Through Esterification During the Production of Alcohols
AssigneeCelanese International Corporation
InventorsZhenhua Zhou, Victor J. Johnston, David Lee, Heiko Weiner
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Abstract
Purifying and/or recovery of ethanol from a crude ethanol product obtained from the hydrogenation of acetic acid. Separation and purification processes of crude ethanol mixture are employed to allow recovery of ethanol and remove impurities. In addition, the process involves the esterification of acetic acid in a column used for recovering the ethanol.
Claims20
A process for producing ethanol comprising:
- hydrogenating acetic acid from an acetic acid feedstream in a reactor to produce a crude product stream comprising ethanol and acetic acid;
- reacting acetic acid and ethanol in a reactive distillation column;
- withdrawing an overhead stream comprising ethyl acetate and a bottom stream comprising ethanol and water;
- and
- recovering ethanol from the bottom stream.
2 more elements
A process for producing ethanol comprising:
- hydrogenating acetic acid from an acetic acid feedstream in a reactor to produce a crude product stream comprising ethanol and acetic acid;
- reacting acetic acid and ethanol in a first column;
- withdrawing a first overhead stream comprising aldehyde and ethyl acetate, and a first bottom stream comprising ethyl acetate, ethanol and water;
- separating the first bottom stream in a second column to yield a second overhead stream comprising ethanol and ethyl acetate and a second bottom stream comprising water;
- and
- separating the second overhead stream in a third column to yield a third overhead stream comprising ethyl acetate and a third bottom stream comprising ethanol.
3 more elements
A process for producing ethanol comprising:
- providing a crude ethanol product comprising ethanol, water, ethyl acetate, non-condensable gases, and acetic acid;
- removing one or more non-condensable gases from the crude product to yield a liquid stream;
- reacting acetic acid and ethanol in the liquid stream in a reactive distillation column to produce an ester enriched stream comprising ethanol, water and ethyl acetate;
- and
- recovering ethanol from the ester enriched stream.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.