Oxidative coupling of methane for olefin production

A method for producing butene-1, comprising:

• (a) directing methane (CH4) and oxygen (O2) into an oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) reactor that permits the CH4 and the O2 to react to yield an OCM product stream comprising hydrocarbon compounds with two or more carbon atoms (C2+ compounds), including ethylene;
• (b) directing at least a portion of the OCM product stream into a dimerization reactor that permits at least a portion of the ethylene to react to produce a dimerization product stream comprising the butene-1;
• and
• (c) directing the dimerization product stream into a separations unit that produces a first stream containing un-reacted ethylene and a second stream containing the butene-1.

A method for producing butene-2, comprising:

• (a) directing methane (CH4) and oxygen (O2) into an oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) reactor that permits the CH4 and the O2 to react to yield an OCM product stream comprising hydrocarbon compounds with two or more carbon atoms (C2+ compounds), including ethylene;
• (b) directing at least a portion of the OCM product steam into a dimerization reactor that permits at least a portion of the ethylene to react to produce a dimerization product stream comprising butene-1;
• and
• (c) directing the dimerization product stream into a hydroisomerization reactor that converts the butene-1 to the butene-2.

A method for performing an oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) reaction, comprising:

• (a) directing a first portion of methane (CH4) and a first portion of oxygen (O2) into a first OCM reactor, wherein the first OCM reactor is an adiabatic reactor;
• (b) in the first OCM reactor, producing a first product stream comprising hydrocarbon compounds with two or more carbon atoms (C2+ compounds) and liberating a first portion of heat, which first portion of heat increases a temperature of the first product stream;
• (c) directing a second portion of CH4 and a second portion of oxygen O2 into a second OCM reactor, wherein the second OCM reactor is an isothermal reactor;
• (d) in the second OCM reactor, producing a second product stream comprising hydrocarbon compounds with two or more carbon atoms (C2+ compounds) and liberating a second portion of heat, which second portion of heat is removed from the second OCM reactor;
• and
• (e) combining the second product stream with the first product stream, wherein the first portion of heat aids in converting ethane (C2H6) in the first and/or second product streams into ethylene (C2H4).