Glycol ether process

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10160709-B2
Application number	US-201715672927-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 9, 2017
Priority date	Aug 9, 2016
Publication date	Dec 25, 2018
Grant date	Dec 25, 2018

Abstract

A process for the preparation of glycol ethers by providing a diethylene glycol ether column bottoms mixture comprising triethylene glycol ether, tetraethylene glycol ether, and glycol ether catalyst; separating, in a stripping column, the column bottom mixture into a triethylene glycol ether vapor overhead and a liquid bottoms; and separating, in an evaporator, the liquid bottoms into a residue containing about 80% to about 90% tetraethylene glycol ether and an evaporator overhead comprising at least about 60% tetraethylene glycol ether.

First claim

I claim:

1. A process for the preparation of glycol ethers comprising the steps of:
(a) providing a diethylene glycol ether column bottoms mixture comprising triethylene glycol ether, tetraethylene glycol ether, and a glycol ether catalyst;
(b) separating, in a stripping column, the diethylene glycol ether column bottoms mixture into a triethylene glycol ether vapor overhead and a liquid bottoms; and
(c) separating, in a first evaporator, the liquid bottoms into a residue stream containing about 80 weight % to about 90 weight % tetraethylene glycol ether and an evaporator overhead comprising at least about 60 weight % tetraethylene glycol ether.

2. The process according to claim 1 , further comprising the following steps subsequent to step (c):
(d) condensing the evaporator overhead to form a condensed stream;
(e) dividing the condensed stream into a recycle stream and a product stream;
(f) separating, in a second evaporator, the product stream into a second evaporator vapor sidestream and a second evaporator liquid bottoms; and
(g) forming a condensate-product solution stream by mixing the second evaporator liquid bottoms with a drum condensate stream, wherein the condensate-product solution stream comprises from about 70 weight % to about 80 weight % tetraethylene glycol ether.

3. The process according to claim 1 , further comprising the following steps subsequent to step (c):
(d1) separating, in a second stripping column, the evaporator overhead into a vapor overhead and a stripping column bottoms stream, wherein the stripping column bottoms stream contains at least about 90 weight % tetraethylene glycol ether.

4. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the temperature of the evaporator is maintained between about 160° C. to about 170° C. and the pressure between about 3 mm Hg to about 5 mm Hg.

5. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the residue stream comprises approximately 80 weight % to 90 weight % tetraethylene glycol ether and 5 weight % to 15 weight % triethylene glycol ether.

6. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the first evaporator is a wiped film evaporator.

7. The process according to claim 2 , wherein the second evaporator is a falling film evaporator.

8. The process according to claim 2 , wherein the second evaporator is operated at a pressure of about 2 mm Hg to about 3 mm Hg and a temperature between about 110° C. to about 170° C.

9. The process according to claim 2 , further comprising the step of passing the evaporator overhead from the first evaporator to provide the second evaporator with a source of vapor and heat.

10. The process according to claim 1 , wherein prior to step (a) the process further comprises the step of manufacturing ethylene oxide by contacting an oxygen-containing gas with ethylene in the presence of an epoxidation catalyst.

11. The process according to claim 10 , wherein the epoxidation catalyst is a silver-based epoxidation catalyst that includes a promoting amount of rhenium.

Assignees

• Scient Design Co

Inventors

• Katiyar Saurabh

Classifications

• C07C41/42 Primary

  by distillation · CPC title

• B01D5/009

  Collecting, removing and/or treatment of the condensate · CPC title

• B01D19/0015

  in contact columns containing plates, grids or other filling elements · CPC title

• B01D3/148

  in combination with at least one evaporator · CPC title

• C07C43/13

  containing hydroxy or O-metal groups (C07C43/11 takes precedence) · CPC title