US 7,563,358 B2Granted

Process for the production of benzene, toluene, and xylenes

AssigneeExxonMobil Chemical Patents Inc.

InventorsElizabeth L. Stavens, Stephen H. Brown, J. Scott Buchanan, Yun-Feng Chang, Larry L. Iaccino, Paul F. Keusenkothen, John D. Y. Ou, Randall D. Partridge

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Abstract

A hydrocarbon conversion process for producing an aromatics product containing of benzene, toluene, xylenes, or mixtures thereof. The process is carried out by converting precursors of benzene, toluene, and xylenes that are contained in a hydrocarbon feed (C6+ non-aromatic cyclic hydrocarbons, A8+ single-ring aromatic hydrocarbons having at least one alkyl group containing two or more carbon atoms; and A9+ single-ring aromatic hydrocarbons having at least three methyl groups) to produce a product that contains an increased amount of benzene, toluene, xylenes, or combinations thereof compared to said hydrocarbon feed.

Claims41

Dependent claims

A process for producing an aromatics product selected from the group consisting of benzene, toluene, xylenes, and mixtures thereof from a hydrocarbon feed comprising:

(a) C6+ non-aromatic cyclic hydrocarbons;
(b) A8+ single-ring aromatic hydrocarbons having at least one alkyl group containing two or more carbon atoms;
and (c) A9+ single-ring aromatic hydrocarbons having at least three methyl groups, said process comprising:
contacting said feed in the presence of hydrogen and with a catalyst comprising an effective amount of at least one Group VIII metal and a molecular sieve selected from the group consisting of a large pore molecular sieve and an intermediate pore size molecular sieve, said molecular sieve having an alpha value, before incorporation of said Group VIII metal, from about 2 to less than 100 and under conditions sufficient for (i) forming aromatic hydrocarbons from C6+ non-aromatic cyclic hydrocarbons, (ii) dealkylating A8+ single-ring aromatic hydrocarbons having at least one alkyl group containing two or more carbon atoms;
(iii) transalkylating A9+ single-ring aromatic hydrocarbons having at least three methyl groups;
and (iv) disproportionating toluene, to produce a product such that said product contains an increased amount of benzene, toluene, xylenes, or combinations thereof compared to said hydrocarbon feed.

3 more elements

A process for producing an aromatics product selected from the group consisting of benzene, toluene, xylenes, and mixtures thereof from a hydrocarbon feed, said hydrocarbon feed comprising:

(a) C6+ non-aromatic cyclic hydrocarbons;
(b) A8+ single-ring aromatic hydrocarbons having at least one alkyl group containing two or more carbon atoms;
(c) A9+ single-ring aromatic hydrocarbons having at least three methyl groups, and (d) multi-ring aromatics compounds, said process comprising:
(I) contacting said feed in the presence of hydrogen and in a first reaction zone containing a catalyst comprising a large molecular sieve selected from the group consisting of USY, Beta, ZSM-12, MCM-22, and Mordenite and from about 0.05 to about 0.5 percent by weight of a Group VII metal selected from the group consisting of platinum, palladium and mixtures thereof (based on the weight of the molecular sieve), said molecular sieve having an alpha value, before incorporation of said Group VIII metal, from about 3.5 to about 25 and under conditions sufficient for (i) forming aromatic hydrocarbons from C6+ non-aromatic cyclic hydrocarbons, (ii) dealkylating A8+ single-ring aromatic hydrocarbons having at least one alkyl group containing two or more carbon atoms;
(iii) transalkylating A9+ single-ring aromatic hydrocarbons having at least three methyl groups;
and (iv) disproportionating toluene, to produce a product such that the product contains an increased amount of benzene, toluene, xylenes, or combinations thereof compared to said hydrocarbon feed;
(II) contacting said multi-ring aromatic compounds in a second reaction zone under cracking conditions to convert at least a portion of said multi-ring aromatic compounds to single-ring aromatic compounds, C6+ non-aromatic cyclic hydrocarbons;
or mixtures thereof;
and
(III) recycling least a portion of said single-ring aromatic compounds;
said C6+ non-aromatic cyclic hydrocarbons, or mixtures thereof to the first reaction zone.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.