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US 5,714,657 AGranted
Natural gas conversion to higher hydrocarbons
OwnerLouis deVriesinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This patent is concerned with a unique process for converting natural gas into hydrocarbons. More particularly, it concerns a novel combination of processing steps wherein the natural gas is first converted into syn gas, the hydrogen of which is reacted with carbon dioxide to produce a mixture of water and carbon monoxide which is then contacted with a metal catalyst to give a mixture of hydrocarbons.
Claims32
A process for the production of multicarbon hydrocarbons from a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide gases, comprising the steps of:
- (a) heating in a first reactor said mixture of gases with carbon dioxide in a molar ratio of carbon dioxide to hydrogen in the range of from about 4:1 to 1:1 at a temperature sufficient to attain a reverse water-gas shift reaction in said first reactor to produce additional carbon monoxide and water in a first reactor effluent;
- (b) contacting in a second reactor said first reactor effluent with a metal catalyst at a temperature above about 150.degree. C. wherein the carbon monoxide and water react to produce a second reactor effluent comprising multicarbon hydrocarbons, water and carbon dioxide;
- and
- (c) separating said second reactor effluent into a multicarbon hydrocarbon stream, a water stream and a carbon dioxide stream and returning a sufficient portion of said carbon dioxide stream to said first reactor to assist in maintaining the molar ratio of carbon dioxide to hydrogen in the range of from about 4:1 to 1:1 in said first reactor.
1 more element
A process for the production of multicarbon hydrocarbons from a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide gases, comprising the steps of:
- (a) heating in a first reactor said mixture of gases with carbon dioxide in a molar ratio of carbon dioxide to hydrogen in the range of from about 4:1 to 1:1 at a temperature above about 800.degree. C. to produce in a reverse water-gas shift reaction additional carbon monoxide and water in a first reactor effluent,
- (b) separating carbon monoxide and water from said first reactor effluent and recycling the remainder of said first reactor effluent to said first reactor;
- (c) heating in a second reactor said separated carbon monoxide and at least 50% of said water separated from said first reactor effluent in the presence of a metal catalyst to react the carbon monoxide and water to produce a second reactor effluent comprising multicarbon hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide;
- and
- (d) separating said second reactor effluent into a multicarbon hydrocarbon stream and a carbon dioxide stream and returning a sufficient portion of said carbon dioxide stream to said first reactor to assist in maintaining the molar ratio of carbon dioxide to hydrogen in the molar ratio of about 4:1 to 1:1 in said first reactor.
2 more elements
A process for the production of liquid hydrocarbons from natural gas comprising the steps of:
- (a) oxidizing said natural gas in a partial oxidizer to produce a syngas comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide;
- (b) heating said syngas at a temperature above about 800.degree. C. in a first reactor with carbon dioxide at a molar ratio to hydrogen of from about 4:1 to 1:1 to produce water and additional carbon monoxide in a first reactor effluent;
- (c) separating carbon monoxide and water from said first reactor effluent and recycling the remainder of said first reactor effluent to said first reactor:
- (d) reacting in a second reactor said separated carbon monoxide with at least 50% of said separated water in the presence of a metal catalyst, wherein said metal catalyst catalyzes the reaction of carbon monoxide and water to produce a second reactor effluent comprising multicarbon hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide and water;
- (e) separating liquid hydrocarbons and water from said second reactor effluent leaving a second reactor effluent remainder;
- (f) returning at least a portion of said second reactor effluent remainder to said partial oxidizer;
- and
- (g) separating said liquid multicarbon hydrocarbon product from said water to provide an isolated liquid multicarbon hydrocarbon product.
5 more elements
A process for producing multicarbon hydrocarbons from a mixture of gases including hydrogen and carbon monoxide produced from partial oxidation of natural gas, which comprises the steps of:
- (a) heating in a first reactor said mixture of gases with carbon dioxide in a molar ratio to the hydrogen present in the range of about 4:1 to 1:1 at a temperature in the range of about 800.degree. to about 1800.degree. C. to produce a first reactor effluent comprising water and additional carbon monoxide;
- (b) separating said carbon monoxide and water from said first reactor effluent and recycling the remainder of said first reactor effluent to said first reactor;
- (c) reacting in a second reactor said separated carbon monoxide with at least 50% of said separated water at a temperature in the range of about 150.degree. to about 300.degree. C. and at a pressure in the range of about 1 to about 150 atm in contact with a metal catalyst selected from the group consisting of iron, cobalt, nickel, manganese and alloys thereof, wherein said metal catalyst catalyzes the reaction of carbon monoxide and water to produce a second reactor effluent comprising multicarbon hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide and water;
- (d) separating liquid multicarbon hydrocarbons and water from said second reactor effluent leaving a second reactor effluent remainder;
- and
- (e) separating said liquid multicarbon hydrocarbon product from said water to provide an isolated liquid multicarbon hydrocarbon product.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.