Method of recovering acetone and a plant for recovering the same
AssigneeSabic Global Technologies B.V.
InventorsMark Erik Nelson, Ahmed Abouelfetouh Youssef
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In an embodiment, a method of recovering acetone comprises separating a bisphenol A stream into a bisphenol A product stream and an extraction stream comprising unreacted acetone; recovering the unreacted acetone in a recovery section of the bisphenol A production facility and forming a bisphenol A plant acetone recovery stream comprising methanol and a recovered acetone; introducing the bisphenol A plant acetone recovery stream to a phenol purification plant; and purifying the bisphenol A plant acetone recovery stream in the phenol purification plant to form an acetone product stream. The acetone product stream can comprise a reduced amount of methanol as compared to the bisphenol A plant acetone recovery stream.
Claims19
A method of recovering acetone comprising:
- reacting phenol and acetone in the presence of a catalyst in a bisphenol A reactor to produce a bisphenol A stream comprising bisphenol A;
- separating the bisphenol A stream into a product bisphenol A stream and an extraction streamcomprising an unreacted acetone;
- separating the extraction stream into an extraction top outlet stream and an extraction bottom outlet stream in an acetone extraction column;
- separating the extraction bottom outlet stream in an acetone stripper column in the presence of steam to form a stripper top outlet stream and a stripper bottom outlet stream comprising water;
- separating the extraction top outlet stream in a solvent recovery column to form a recovery top outlet stream and a recovery bottom outlet stream;
- separating one or both of the recovery top outlet stream and the stripper top outlet stream in a decanter to form an organic decanter stream and an aqueous decanter stream;
- forming a bisphenol A plant acetone recovery stream comprising at least a portion of one or more of the extraction top outlet stream, the stripper top outlet stream, the aqueous decanter stream, and the recovery top outlet stream;
- introducing the bisphenol A plant acetone recovery stream to a phenol purification plant, wherein the bisphenol A plant acetone recovery stream comprises methanol and a recovered acetone;
- and
- purifying the bisphenol A plant acetone recovery stream to form an acetone product stream.
A method of purifying a recovered acetone comprising:
- introducing a bisphenol A plant acetone recovery stream, preferably, the bisphenol A plant acetone recovery stream of any one of the preceding claims, to at least one of a preheater, a splitter column, and a first acetone column of a phenol purification plant;
- wherein the bisphenol A plant acetone recovery stream comprises methanol and the recovered acetone;
- heating a preheater inlet stream comprising cumene, phenol, and acetone in the preheater to form a splitter inlet stream;
- separating the splitter inlet stream comprising the cumene, the phenol, and the acetone into a splitter top outlet stream comprising the acetone and the cumene and a splitter bottom outlet stream comprising the phenol in the splitter column;
- separating the splitter top outlet stream in the first acetone column into a first top stream and a first bottom stream;
- separating the first bottom stream in a second acetone column into a second bottom stream and an acetone product stream comprising a purified acetone.
An integrated system for purifying acetone, comprising:
- an acetone extraction column comprising a first extraction inlet, a top extraction outlet, and a bottom extraction outlet;
- an acetone stripper column comprising comprise a stripper inlet, a steam stripper inlet, a top stripper outlet, and a bottom stripper outlet;
- wherein the bottom extraction outlet is in fluid communication with the stripper inlet;
- a decanter comprising a decanter inlet, an aqueous decanter outlet, and an organic decanter outlet;
- wherein one or both of the top solvent recovery outlet and the top stripper outlet is in fluid communication with the decanter inlet;
- and
- an optional solvent recovery column comprising a first solvent recovery inlet, a second solvent recovery inlet, a top solvent recovery outlet, and a bottom recovery outlet;
- wherein, if present, the top extraction outlet is in fluid communication with the first solvent recovery inlet;
- the organic decanter outlet is in fluid communication with one or both of the second solvent recovery inlet and a second extraction inlet of the acetone extraction column;
- and
- wherein the top extraction outlet, the top stripper outlet, the aqueous decanter outlet, top solvent recovery outlet, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing is in fluid communication with a stream of a phenol purification system;
- wherein the phenol purification system is configured to recover an acetone product stream.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.