Systems and methods for using facilitated transport membranes to separate olefins and paraffins

A system for separating olefin from paraffin, the system comprising:

• a. a distillation column having a plurality of trays, which distillation column is configured to (i) enrich an olefin from a feedstock comprising an olefin and a paraffin, (ii) produce a top product that is enriched in olefin relative to the feedstock, and (iii) produces a bottom product that is depleted in olefin relative to the feedstock;
• and
• b. facilitated transport membrane that is capable of separating olefin from paraffin and configured to perform one or more of:
• i. separate olefin from paraffin in the feedstock to produce an enriched feedstock, which enriched feedstock is enriched in olefin relative to the feedstock, and wherein the enriched feedstock is configured to be fed to the distillation column,
• ii. separate olefin from paraffin in the top product of the distillation column,
• iii. separate olefin from paraffin in the bottom product of the distillation column, and
• iv. withdraw a side stream from the distillation column in proximity to a first separation tray of the plurality of separation trays and separate olefin from paraffin in the side stream.

A method for producing a polyolefin, the method comprising:

• a. enriching an olefin from a feedstock comprising an olefin and a paraffin to produce a reactor feed stream comprising the enriched olefin;
• b. in a reactor, polymerizing the enriched olefin in the reactor feed stream to produce a polyolefin and a reactor purge stream, wherein the reactor purge stream comprises paraffin and un-reacted olefin;
• c. separating the un-reacted olefin from the reactor purge stream using a module comprising a facilitated transport membrane to produce a recycle stream;
• and
• d. recycling the recycle stream to the reactor.

A system for producing a polyolefin, the system comprising:

• a. a distillation column configured to enrich an olefin from a feedstock comprising an olefin and a paraffin to produce a reactor feed stream comprising the enriched olefin;
• b. a reactor configured to polymerize the enriched olefin to produce a polyolefin and a reactor purge stream, wherein the reactor purge stream comprises paraffin and un-reacted olefin;
• and
• c. a membrane separation module comprising a facilitated transport membrane configured to separate the un-reacted olefin from the reactor purge stream to produce a recycle stream, which recycle stream is recycled to the reactor.