Oxidative coupling of methane for olefin production

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10870611-B2
Application number	US-201916523032-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 26, 2019
Priority date	Apr 13, 2016
Publication date	Dec 22, 2020
Grant date	Dec 22, 2020

Abstract

The present disclosure provides natural gas and petrochemical processing systems, including oxidative coupling of methane reactor systems that may integrate process inputs and outputs to cooperatively utilize different inputs and outputs in the production of higher hydrocarbons from natural gas and other hydrocarbon feedstocks. The present disclosure also provides apparatuses and methods for heat exchange, such as an apparatus that can perform boiling and steam super-heating in separate chambers in order to reach a target outlet temperature that is relatively constant as the apparatus becomes fouled. A system of the present disclosure may include an oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) subsystem that generates a product stream comprising compounds with two or more carbon atoms, and a dual compartment heat exchanger downstream of, and fluidically coupled to, the OCM subsystem.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for producing propylene, comprising:
an oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) reactor that receives methane (CH 4 ) and oxygen (O 2 ) and permits the CH 4 and the O 2 to react to yield an OCM product stream comprising hydrocarbon compounds with two or more carbon atoms (C 2+ compounds), including ethylene;
a separations unit that receives at least a portion of the OCM product stream and yields an ethylene stream comprising the ethylene from the OCM product stream;
a dimerization reactor that receives at least a portion of the ethylene stream and permits at least a portion of the ethylene to react in a dimerization reaction to yield a butene stream comprising one or more butene compounds;
a C 4 separations unit that receives at least a portion of the butene stream and yields a butene-2 stream comprising butene-2 from the at least a portion of the butene stream; and
a metathesis reactor that receives at least a portion of the butene-2 stream and at least another portion of the ethylene stream and permits at least a portion of the butene-2 and the ethylene to yield a metathesis product stream comprising higher hydrocarbon compounds, including the propylene.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a C 2 separations unit that receives at least a portion of the metathesis product stream and separates the at least a portion of the metathesis product stream to at least a C 2 stream comprising hydrocarbon compounds with two carbon atoms (C 2 compounds) and a C 3 + stream comprising hydrocarbon compounds with three or more carbon atoms (C 3 + compounds) including at least a portion of the propylene.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the separations unit receives the C 2 stream.

4. The system of claim 2 , further comprising a C 3 separations unit that receives the C 3+ stream and separates the C 3+ stream to at least a C 3 stream comprising propylene and a C 4+ stream comprising hydrocarbon compounds with four or more carbon atoms (C 4 + compounds).

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the C 4 separations unit receives the C 4+ stream.

6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a polypropylene unit that receives the propylene from the metathesis product stream and permits the propylene to react to yield a polypropylene product stream comprising polypropylene.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the polypropylene unit receives at least a portion of the ethylene from the separations unit and reacts the at least a portion of the ethylene as a co-monomer with the propylene.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein a molar ratio of ethylene co-monomer to total monomer and co-monomer is from about 0.01:0.99 to about 0.15:0.85.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the molar ratio of ethylene co-monomer to total monomer and co-monomer is from about 0.08:0.92 to about 0.15:0.85.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the OCM reactor receives ethane (C 2 H6).

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least another portion of the ethylene stream is a remainder of the ethylene stream.

12. A system for producing hydrocarbon compounds including propylene, comprising:
an oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) reactor that receives methane (CH 4 ) and oxygen (O 2 ) and permits the CH 4 and the O 2 to react to yield an OCM product stream comprising hydrocarbon compounds with two or more carbon atoms (C 2+ compounds), including ethylene;
a separations unit that receives at least a portion of the OCM product stream and yields an ethylene stream comprising the ethylene from the OCM product stream;
a dimerization reactor that receives at least a portion of the ethylene stream and permits at least a portion of the ethylene to react in a dimerization reaction to yield a butene stream comprising one or more butene compounds; and
a metathesis reactor that receives at least another portion of the ethylene stream and at least a portion of the butene stream and permits at least a portion of the one or more butane compounds and at least another portion of the ethylene to react to produce a product stream comprising the propylene.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the metathesis reactor receives an external C 4 stream comprising hydrocarbon compounds with four carbon atoms, wherein said C 4 stream replaces at least a portion of the butane stream from the dimerization unit.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the metathesis reactor is configured to (i) produce only ethylene as the final product, (ii) utilize the dimerization reactor to produce butenes as the final product, (iii) produce propylene as a final product, or (iv) use the propylene to produce polypropylene.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the product stream comprises polymer grade ethylene, polymer grade propylene, chemical grade ethylene, chemical grade propylene, polypropylene, a mixture of butenes, or combinations thereof.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the at least another portion of ethylene is a remainder of the ethylene from the ethylene stream.

17. A system for producing mixed butenes, comprising an oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) reactor, a dimerization reactor in fluid communication with the OCM reactor, and a recovery system in fluid communication with the dimerization reactor, which recovery system is for recovering mixed butenes.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the mixed butenes comprise at least about 50% butene-2.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the mixed butenes comprise at least about 90% butene-2.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the mixed butenes comprise at least about 99% butene-2.

21. A system for producing butene-1, comprising an oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) reactor, a dimerization reactor in fluid communication with the OCM reactor, and a recovery unit in fluid communication with the dimerization reactor, which recovery unit recovers the butene-1.

Assignees

• Lummus Technology Inc

Inventors

• Radaelli Guido
• Duggal Suchia
• Cizeron Joel
• Schammel Wayne
• Martens Franciscus J A

Classifications

• F22G7/00

  Steam superheaters characterised by location, arrangement, or disposition · CPC title

• F22G1/14

  using heat generated by chemical reactions · CPC title

• F22G1/00

  Steam superheating characterised by heating method · CPC title

• F22B37/22

  Drums; Headers; Accessories therefor · CPC title

• F22B37/14

  Supply mains, e.g. rising mains, down-comers, in connection with water tubes · CPC title