Processes for recovery of rhodium from a hydroformylation process

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11033890-B2
Application number	US-201816638420-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 2, 2018
Priority date	Nov 13, 2017
Publication date	Jun 15, 2021
Grant date	Jun 15, 2021

Abstract

Some embodiments of the present invention relate to processes to recover rhodium from a hydroformylation process. In some embodiments, the process to recover rhodium from the hydroformylation process comprises (a) treating a catalyst-containing stream from the hydroformylation process with 2.5 to 20 weight percent, based on the total weight of the stream, of a water-soluble organic amine of the following structure: wherein R 32 , R 33 , and R 34 are each independently alkyls and ethoxylates, and wherein no more than one of R 32 , R 33 , and R 34 is alkyl; (b) heating the resulting solution in the presence of syngas to a temperature of at least 65° C. to generate a rhodium-rich phase and a supernatant; and (c) removing the supernatant to recover the rhodium-rich phase.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A process to recover rhodium from a hydroformylation process that comprises producing at least one aldehyde in a reaction zone, the reaction zone comprising a C 7 to C 22 olefin, hydrogen and carbon monoxide in the presence of a catalyst, wherein the catalyst comprises rhodium and an organophosphorus ligand, wherein the process comprises:
(a) treating a catalyst-containing stream from the hydroformylation process with 2.5 to 20 weight percent, based on the total weight of the stream, of a water-soluble organic amine of the following structure:

wherein R 32 , R 33 , and R 34 are each independently alkyls and ethoxylates, and wherein no more than one of R 32 , R 33 , and R 34 is alkyl;
(b) heating the resulting solution in the presence of syngas to a temperature of at least 65° C. to generate a rhodium-rich phase and a supernatant; and
(c) removing the supernatant to recover the rhodium-rich phase.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the ligand is an organomonophosphite.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein R 32 , R 33 , and R 34 are each ethoxylates.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein the water-soluble organic amine is triethanolamine.

5. The process of claim 1 , further comprising returning the rhodium-rich phase to the reaction zone.

6. The process of claim 1 , further comprising treating the rhodium-rich phase with an organic solvent, and returning the treated rhodium-rich phase to the reaction zone.

7. The process of claim 1 , further comprising separating the rhodium from the rhodium-rich phase by acidifying the rhodium-rich phase to a pH less than 6 in the presence of water and a water-immiscible organic solvent, and optionally in the presence of an organophosphorus ligand, and returning the rhodium-containing organic solvent to the reaction zone.

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein the syngas is provided in step (b) at atmospheric pressure or higher.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst-containing stream is a liquid purge stream from the hydroformylation process.

10. The process of claim 1 , wherein at least 50 weight percent of the rhodium from the catalyst-containing stream is present in the rhodium-rich phase.

11. The process of claim 1 , further comprising:
(d) treating the supernatant from step (c) with 2.5 to 20 weight percent of the water-soluble organic amine; and
(e) heating the treated supernatant in the presence of syngas to a temperature of at least 65° C. to generate a second rhodium-rich phase and a second supernatant.

Assignees

• Dow Technology Investments Llc

Inventors

• Bigi Marinus A
• Watson Rick B

Classifications

• B01J2231/321

  Hydroformylation, metalformylation, carbonylation or hydroaminomethylation · CPC title

• B01J31/4046 Primary

  containing rhodium · CPC title

• Y02P20/582

  Recycling of unreacted starting or intermediate materials · CPC title

• Y02P20/584

  Recycling of catalysts · CPC title

• B01J38/02

  Heat treatment · CPC title