Olefin production from low sulfur hydrocarbon fractions
AssigneeChevron U.S.A. Inc.
InventorsDennis J. O'Rear, Gunther H. Dieckmann
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Abstract
Provided is a process for converting methane at a remote natural gas site into ethylene and other products. Methane is converted into syngas which is converted into a low-sulfur liquid hydrocarbon mixture containing less than 1 ppm sulfur via Fischer-Tropsch (FT) syntheses. The low-sulfur Fischer-Tropsch liquids are transferred from the remote site to an existing facility where a sulfur-containing compound or a sulfur-containing hydrocarbon mixture is added to avoid coking problems. The resultant blend of hydrocarbons which has a sulfur content of at least 1 ppm, is fed to a naphtha cracking unit and ethylene recovered.
Claims9
A process for producing ethylene comprising:
- (a) preparing a Fischer-Tropsch syncrude;
- (b) preparing a lighter naphtha fraction containing at least one C5-C10 hydrocarbon and having a sulfur content of at least 1 ppm;
- (c) preparing a heavier fraction having a sulfur content of less than 100 ppm;
- (d) blending said Fischer-Tropsch syncrude with the lighter naphtha fraction and the heavier fraction;
- (e) feeding said blend to a cracker unit;
- (f) converting the blend in the cracker unit to a product stream comprising ethylene;
- and,
- (g) recovering ethylene from the product stream of the cracker unit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.