Processes and apparatuses for removing benzene for gasoline blending

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10144885-B2
Application number	US-201715598157-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 17, 2017
Priority date	Jun 7, 2016
Publication date	Dec 4, 2018
Grant date	Dec 4, 2018

Abstract

This present disclosure relates to processes and apparatuses for transforming feedstock with high levels of benzene into a low-benzene content product that is suitable for gasoline blending. The benzene rich reformate stream is split in a reformate splitter and the benzene in the benzene rich reformate is saturated in a benzene saturation unit and the gases like hydrogen and LPG are recovered.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process for removing benzene from a gasoline blending feedstock, the process comprising the steps of:
providing the feedstock comprising benzene to a catalytic reforming unit to provide a C 5+ hydrocarbon stream;
passing the C 5+ hydrocarbon stream to a reformate splitter to provide an overhead fraction, a side cut fraction and a bottom fraction;
passing the side cut fraction to a benzene saturation reactor in a benzene saturation unit to provide a saturated reformate stream;
passing the saturated reformate stream to a stripper in the benzene saturation unit to provide a benzene lean reformate stream and an off-gas stream; and
recycling the off-gas stream to a recontact recovery unit to recover hydrogen gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

2. The process of claim 1 , further comprising passing the C 5+ hydrocarbon stream to a stabilizer downstream of the catalytic reforming unit.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the side cut fraction from the reformate splitter is a benzene rich reformate stream.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein the concentration of benzene in the benzene lean reformate stream from the benzene saturation unit is less than 0.5%.

5. The process of claim 4 , wherein the concentration of benzene in the benzene lean reformate stream from the benzene saturation unit is less than 0.1%.

6. The process of claim 1 , further comprising passing a portion of the overhead fraction from the reformate splitter to the benzene saturation reactor in the benzene saturation unit.

7. The process of claim 1 , further comprising recovering hydrogen rich gas and liquefied petroleum gas at the overhead of the recontact recovery unit.

8. The process of claim 1 , further comprising saturating aromatics and olefins present in the side cut fraction of the reformate splitter in the benzene saturation unit.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein the inlet temperature of the benzene saturation reactor ranges from about 120° C. to about 200° C. and the outlet temperature of the benzene saturation reactor ranges from about 150° C. to about 290° C. and the pressure of the benzene saturation reactor ranges from about 1370 kPa to about 3450 kPa.

10. The process of claim 1 , wherein the benzene saturation reactor is configured to receive the hydrogen rich gas stream from the recontact recovery unit.

11. The process of claim 1 , further comprising removing benzene and benzene precursors in a naphtha splitter upstream of the catalytic reforming unit.

12. The process of claim 11 , wherein the benzene precursors are methylcyclopentane (MCP) and cyclohexane (CH).

13. A process for removing benzene from a gasoline blending feedstock, the process comprising the steps of:
providing the feedstock comprising benzene to a catalytic reforming unit to provide a C 5+ hydrocarbon stream;
passing the C 5+ hydrocarbon stream to a reformate splitter to provide an overhead fraction and a bottom fraction;
passing the overhead fraction to a benzene saturation reactor in a benzene saturation unit to provide a saturated reformate stream;
passing saturated reformate stream to a stripper in the benzene saturation unit to provide a benzene lean reformate stream and an off-gas stream; and
recycling the off-gas stream to a recontact recovery unit to recover hydrogen gas and liquefied petroleum gas.

14. The process of claim 13 , wherein the overhead fraction of the reformate splitter comprises C 5 and C 6 hydrocarbons.

15. The process of claim 13 , wherein the concentration of benzene in the benzene lean reformate stream from the benzene saturation unit is less than 0.5%.

16. The process of claim 15 , wherein the concentration of benzene in the benzene lean reformate stream from the benzene saturation unit is less than 0.1%.

17. The process of claim 13 , further comprising recovering hydrogen rich gas and liquefied petroleum gas at the overhead of the recontact recovery unit.

18. The process of claim 13 , wherein the inlet temperature of the benzene saturation reactor ranges from about 120° C. to about 200° C. and the outlet temperature of the benzene saturation reactor ranges from about 150° C. to about 290° C. and the pressure of the benzene saturation reactor ranges from about 1370 kPa to about 3450 kPa.

19. The process of claim 13 , further comprising removing benzene and benzene precursors in a naphtha splitter upstream of the catalytic reforming unit.

Assignees

• Uop Llc

Inventors

• Singh Pankaj Kumar
• Sabitov Alexander V
• Shecterle David J
• Shakur Mohamed S M
• Panchapakesan Rajaraman

Classifications

• C10G2400/02

  Gasoline · CPC title

• C10G69/02 Primary

  plural serial stages only · CPC title

• C10G45/44

  Hydrogenation of the aromatic hydrocarbons · CPC title

• C10G35/04

  Catalytic reforming · CPC title

• C07C15/04

  Benzene · CPC title