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AssigneeAir Products and Chemicals, Inc.
InventorsArthur R. Smith, John L. Dillon, IV, Donald W. Woodward
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The present invention is an improvement to a process for the conversion of natural gas to produce higher molecular weight hydrocarbon products, wherein the natural gas is partially oxidized to produce a synthesis gas comprising carbon monoxide and hydrogen, wherein the synthesis gas is catalytically reacted to produce the higher molecular weight hydrocarbon products, wherein the conversion process generates excess steam and wherein oxygen used to partially oxidize the natural gas is produced by an air separation process. The improvement is characterized by operating such air separation process at an elevated pressure so that the feed air to the air separation process is compressed to between 8 and 20 Bar(a); expanding at least a portion of the excess steam generated by the conversion process to generate work and using at least a portion of the generated work to drive the compression requirements of the air separation process.
A process for the conversion of natural gas to produce higher molecular weight hydrocarbon products, wherein the natural gas is partially oxidized to produce a synthesis gas comprising carbon monoxide and hydrogen, wherein the synthesis gas is catalytically reacted to produce the higher molecular weight hydrocarbon products, wherein the conversion process generates excess steam and wherein oxygen used to partially oxidize the natural gas is produced by an air separation process, characterized by operating such air separation process at an elevated pressure so that the feed air to the air separation process is compressed to between 8 and 30 Bar(a) [800 and 3,000 kPa(absolute)];
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.