Method and plant for purifying a fatty acid isopropyl ester and for producing pure fatty acid isopropyl ester
AssigneeSulzer Management AG
InventorsPeter FAESSLER, Kor Weai CHAN, JiaPing TOH
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for purifying a fatty acid isopropyl ester includes providing a crude fatty acid isopropyl ester composition containing a fatty acid isopropyl ester to be purified, at least one fatty acid, and subjecting the crude fatty acid isopropyl ester composition to a distillation in a divided-wall column so as to produce an overhead stream, a bottom stream and a side stream, the side stream is the purified fatty acid isopropyl ester composition.
Claims19
A method for purifying a fatty acid isopropyl ester, comprising:
- providing a crude fatty acid isopropyl ester composition containing a fatty acid isopropyl ester to be purified, at least one fatty acid;
- and
- subjecting the crude fatty acid isopropyl ester composition to a distillation in a divided-wall column so as to produce an overhead stream, a bottom stream and a side stream, the side stream being the purified fatty acid isopropyl ester composition.
A plant for preparing a pure fatty acid isopropyl ester. comprising:
- at least one reactor having one or more inlets for fatty acid and isopropanol or a mixture of fatty acid and isopropanol, and an outlet for a reaction mixture containing the fatty acid isopropyl ester, unreacted fatty acid, and unreacted isopropanol, by-products and other impurities;
- and
- a divided-wall column comprising an inlet being connected with the outlet for the reaction mixture of the reactor.
A plant for preparing a pure fatty acid isopropyl ester comprising:
- at least one reactor one or more inlets for fatty acid and isopropanol or a mixture of fatty acid and isopropanol, and an outlet for a reaction mixture containing the fatty acid isopropyl ester, unreacted fatty acid, and unreacted isopropanol, by-products and other impurities;
- and
- a divided-wall column comprising an inlet connected with the outlet for the reaction mixture of the reactor,
- the divided-wall column being a middle divided-wall column comprising
- an undivided top section,
- an undivided bottom section and
- a central section arranged between the undivided top section and the undivided bottom section having at least one dividing wall to divide the central section into at least one feed sub-section and at least one product withdrawal sub-section, the feed sub-section having an inlet for the feed of a crude fatty acid isopropyl ester composition and the product withdrawal sub-section having a side draw outlet for a purified fatty acid isopropyl ester composition, each of the feed sub-section and of the product withdrawal sub-section of the central section of the divided-wall column comprises at least two packing beds, adjacent packing beds of the at least two packing beds of the feed sub-section and of the product withdrawal sub-section are arranged on top of each other, and the inlet for the feed of the crude fatty acid isopropyl ester composition is located between two adjacent packing beds of the at least two packing beds of the feed sub-section and the outlet for the purified fatty acid isopropyl ester composition is located between two adjacent packing beds of the at least two packing beds of the product withdrawal sub-section, wherein-and the side draw outlet for the purified fatty acid isopropyl ester composition is arranged in the central sub-section of the middle divided-wall column above the inlet for the feed of the crude fatty acid isopropyl ester composition.
The plant for preparing a pure fatty acid isopropyl ester according to 16, further comprising a separation device configured to separate at least a part of isopropanol from the reaction mixture so as to obtain a modified reaction mixture, the separation device comprising an inlet connected with the outlet for the reaction mixture of the reactor, an outlet for isopropanol and an outlet for the modified reaction mixture.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.