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US 2014/0275619 A1Published application
Process for Producing Acetic Acid and/or Ethanol By Methane Oxidation
AssigneeCelanese International Corporation
InventorsWensheng Chen, Grant Proulx
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The process relates to producing acetic acid and/or ethanol from methane. Oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) may produce a mixture of ethane and ethylene that is further oxidized to acetic acid. The ethylene may be hydrated to form ethanol. In addition, the acetic acid may be hydrogenated to produce ethanol.
Claims20
A process for making acetic acid, comprising:
- contacting a methane-containing gas and an oxygen-containing gas in a first reactor with a first catalyst for oxidatively coupling methane to form an effluent comprising ethane and ethylene;
- and
- oxidizing at least a portion of the effluent in a second reactor with a second catalyst to form a crude product stream comprising acetic acid.
A process for making acetic acid and ethanol, comprising:
- contacting a methane-containing gas and an oxygen-containing gas in a first reactor with a first catalyst for oxidatively coupling methane to form an effluent comprising ethane and ethylene;
- oxidizing at least a portion of the effluent in a second reactor with a second catalyst to form a crude product stream comprising acetic acid and ethylene;
- separating the crude product stream into an overhead stream and a bottoms stream, wherein the overhead stream comprises a majority of the ethane, ethylene and carbon dioxide from the crude product stream, and wherein the bottoms stream comprises a majority of the acetic acid and water from the crude product stream;
- and
- hydrating at least 10% of the ethylene from the vapor phase stream in a hydration zone into ethanol.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.