US 6,919,016 B2Granted

Process for the utilization of refinery C4 streams

AssigneeCatalytic Distillation Technologies

InventorsGary G. Podrebarac, Mario J. Maraschino

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Abstract

A process is disclosed for preparing a C4 stream for feeding to an alkylation process which reacts isobutane with butene to produce isooctane. The C4 stream is treated in a first distillation column reactor to remove dienes and mercaptans and separate out any C5's which might be present. The treated C4's are then fed to a second distillation column reactor that concurrently isomerizes 1-butene to 2-butene and splits the normal C4's from the iso C4's. The iso C4's are then fed to a third distillation column reactor where a portion of the isobutene is saturated to isobutane. The C4's from the isomerization/splitter are combined with the C4's from the hydrogenation unit and fed to a cold acid alkylation unit. The third distillation column may also oligomerize a portion of the isobutene to diisobutene in the upper end which is saturated in the bottom of the column to isooctane.

A process for the utilization of refinery C4 streams in the production of gasoline comprising the steps of:

(a) feeding hydrogen and a mixed C4 stream containing normal butane, isobutane, 1-butene, 2-butene, isobutene, dienes, mercaptans and C5's to a first distillation column reactor containing a bed of thioetherification/hydrogenation catalyst;
(b) concurrently in said first distillation column reactor,
(i) reacting the mercaptans and a portion of the dienes in the presence of said thioetherification/ hydrogenation catalyst to produce sulfides,
(ii) reacting at least a portion of said dienes with said hydrogen to form mono olefins including additional butenes, and
(iii) separating said sulfides and said C5's from said normal butane, isobutane, 1-butene, 2-butene and isobutene by fractional distillation;
(c) removing said C5's and said sulfides from said first distillation column reactor as a first bottoms;
(d) removing said normal butane, isobutane, 1-butene, 2-butene and isobutene from said first distillation column reactor as a first overheads;
(e) feeding said first overheads containing said normal butane, isobutane, 1-butene, 2-butene and isobutene to a second distillation column reactor containing an bed of isomerization catalyst;
(f) concurrently in said second distillation column reactor,
(i) isomerizing a portion of the 1-butene to 2-butene, and
(ii) separating the 2-butene and the normal butane from the isobutane, isobutene and unreacted 1-butene;
(g) removing the 2-butene from said second distillation column reactor as a second bottoms;
(h) removing the isobutane, unreacted 1-butene and isobutene from said second distillation column reactor as a second overheads;
(i) feeding said hydrogen and second overheads containing said normal butane, isobutane, isobutene and 1-butene to a third distillation column reactor containing a bed of hydrogenation catalyst to concurrently;
(i) hydrogenate a portion of the 1-butene and isobutene to form a reaction product comprising butane and isobutane and
(ii) fractionate the reaction product to produce a third overheads;
and
(j) removing the normal butane, isobutane, 1-butene an isobutene from said third distillation column reactor as a third bottoms.

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Facts

Application

10/912,253Filed 5 Aug 2004 · division

Priority

23 Jan 2002

Published

US 2005/0010071 A113 Jan 2005

Granted

19 Jul 2005

Term ends

Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification10 codes

C07C 319/18
Of sulfides: by addition of thiols to unsaturated compounds
C07C 2/12
Catalytic processes: with crystalline alumino-silicates or with catalysts comprising molecular sieves
C07C 2/62
Catalytic processes: with acids
C07C 5/03
By hydrogenation: of non-aromatic carbon-to-carbon double bonds

Abstract

Claims7