Process and apparatus for the production of dimethyl ether
AssigneeL'Air Liquide, Societe Anonyme a Directoire et Conseil de Surveillance pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Procedes Georges Claude
InventorsAlain Guillard, Emmanuel Schmidt
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Abstract
In a process for the use of a hydrocarbon feedstock (10) by reacting the feedstock in a reactor (11) with oxygen (9) to form a synthesis gas containing at least carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen and subjecting the synthesis gas to a conversion process comprising an exothermic reaction to produce dimethyl ether in a converter (15), the converter operating at an operating pressure, said oxygen being provided to the reactor at an oxygen pressure, the synthesis gas is produced at a pressure higher than the operating pressure of the converter.
Claims15
In a process for the use of a hydrocarbon feedstock by reacting the feedstock in a reactor with oxygen to form a synthesis gas containing at least carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen and subjecting the synthesis gas to a conversion process comprising an exothermic reaction producing dimethyl ether in a converter, the converter operating at an operating pressure, said oxygen being provided to the reactor at an oxygen pressure following separation of cooled compressed air compressed in at least one air compressor, the improvement consisting in that the synthesis gas is produced at a pressure such that the synthesis gas is sent from the reactor to the converter without undergoing a compression step, and the air separation unit supplies oxygen to the reactor at an oxygen pressure greater than the operating pressure of the reactor.
In an apparatus for the use of a hydrocarbon feedstock by reacting the feedstock in a reactor with oxygen to form a synthesis gas containing at least carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen:
- a reactor, a feedstock conduit for sending the feedstock to the reactor, an oxygen conduit for sending the oxygen to the reactor, a synthesis gas removal conduit for removing synthesis gas from the reactor, said synthesis gas removal conduit being connected to a converter for subjecting the synthesis gas to a conversion process to produce dimethyl ether comprising an exothermic reaction in a converter, the converter operating at an operating pressure, said oxygen being provided by air separation at an oxygen pressure;
- the improvement consisting in that there is no synthesis gas compressor for compressing the synthesis gas which is produced by the reactor and which is to be sent to the converter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.