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AssigneeEvonik Degussa GmbH
InventorsHelene Reeker, Guido Stochniol, Dietrich Maschmeyer, Stephan Peitz, Jörg Schallenberg
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The invention is concerned with the oligomerization of supercritical ethene. An essential aspect of the invention is that of mixing ethene with an inert medium and setting the conditions in the reaction such that both ethene and inert medium are supercritical. This is because the solubility for ethene in the inert medium is greater in the supercritical state, such that more ethene is dissolved in the supercritical inert medium than in a liquid solvent. The process regime in the supercritical state therefore enables the use of a much higher proportion of ethene in a homogeneous mixture of ethene and inert medium than is possible on the basis of the thermodynamic solubility restriction in a purely liquid hydrocarbon stream. In this way, the space-time yield is distinctly enhanced. Since a greater amount of ethene can be passed into the reactor, it is possible as a result to better exploit the apparatus volume compared to a liquid phase process. The inert medium used may, for example, be isobutane.
A process for oligomerizing ethene, in which a mixture comprising ethene and an inert medium contacts a solid catalyst, characterized in that the proportion by weight of the inert medium in the mixture is greater than the proportion by weight of ethene in the mixture, the inert medium is an alkane or a cycloalkane, where the alkane or cycloalkane has not less than three and not more than seven carbon atoms, and pressure and temperature of the mixture are chosen with respect to the proportion of ethene in the mixture such that ethene and inert medium are in the supercritical state.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.