Processes and systems for using silica particles in fluid bed reactor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11059774-B2
Application number	US-201916455366-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 27, 2019
Priority date	Jun 28, 2018
Publication date	Jul 13, 2021
Grant date	Jul 13, 2021

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to fluid bed processes that utilize silica particles as a fluidization aid. The process comprises reacting one or more reactants in a reactor comprising a fluid bed to form a product. The fluid bed comprises a catalyst composition comprising a catalyst and an inert additive composition comprising silica particles from 0.5 wt % to 30 wt %, based on the total weight of the catalyst composition. The silica particles are discrete, inert particles that are mixed with the catalyst in the fluid bed.

First claim

We claim:

1. A process comprising:
reacting one or more reactants in a reactor comprising a fluid bed to form a product;
wherein the fluid bed comprises a catalyst composition comprising a catalyst and an inert fluidization aid comprising from 0.5 wt % to 30 wt % of silica particles, based on the total weight of the catalyst composition,
wherein the silica particles have an equivalent median particle diameter ranging from 10 microns to 500 microns and a sphericity ranging from 60% to 99.9%.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst comprises one or more of antimony, uranium, iron, bismuth, vanadium, molybdenum, nickel, potassium, cobalt, oxides thereof, or salts thereof.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst has an equivalent median diameter ranging from 1 microns to 125 microns.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein the silica particles have a real density ranging from 1.8 g/cm 3 to 2.8 g/cm 3 , and wherein the difference between the density of the silica particles and the catalyst is less than 75%.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein the silica particles have a surface area less than 50 m 2 /g, and wherein the silica particles have a hardness ranging from 500 to 720 as measured by ASTM E384 (2018).

6. The process of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst composition further comprises alumina particles, wherein a weight ratio of alumina particles to silica particles is less than 1:1.

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein the fluidization aid comprises no alumina.

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein the process reduces consumption of the catalyst by greater than 5% per kilogram of product produced, as compared to an otherwise identical process using fluidization aids other than the silica particles.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein the silica particles reduce erosion of the reactor by greater than 10% compared to an otherwise identical a similar process conducted without from 0.5 wt % to 30 wt % of the silica particles.

10. The process of claim 1 , wherein the process demonstrates a product yield greater than 0.2% greater than that of an otherwise identical a similar process conducted without from 0.5 wt % to 30 wt % of the silica particles.

11. The process of claim 1 , wherein the silica particles have a real density ranging from 2.1 g/cm 3 to 2.5 g/cm 3 , wherein the silica particles have a surface area less than 1 m 2 /g, wherein the silica particles have a hardness ranging from 500 to 720 as measured by ASTM E384 (2018), and wherein the product yield is greater than 70%.

12. The process of claim 1 , wherein the silica particles have an equivalent median particle diameter ranging from 20 microns to 100 microns, wherein the silica particles have a real density ranging from 2.1 g/cm 3 to 2.5 g/cm 3 , wherein the silica particles have a sphericity greater than 67%, wherein the silica particles comprise greater than 99 wt % silica, wherein the product yield is greater than 70%.

13. A process for producing an acrylonitrile product, the process comprising:
reacting one or more reactants in an ammoxidation reactor comprising a fluid bed under ammoxidation conditions to form the acrylonitrile product;
wherein the fluid bed comprises a catalyst composition comprising a catalyst and an inert fluidization aid silica particles having a density from 1.8 g/cm 3 to 2.8 g/cm 3 ,
wherein the silica particles have a sphericity ranging from 60% to 99.9%.

14. The process of claim 13 , wherein the difference between the density of the silica particles and the catalyst is less than 75%, wherein the process demonstrates an acrylonitrile product yield greater than 0.2% greater than that of an otherwise identical process conducted without the silica particles.

15. The process of claim 13 , wherein the one or more reactants comprises an olefin, ammonia, and an oxygen-containing gas.

Assignees

• Ascend Performance Mat Operations Llc

Inventors

• Chi Yawu T
• Sutton James
• Akhavan Ali
• Kniepmann Celia L
• Cox Matthew D
• Monical Valerie S

Classifications

• B01J35/40

  characterised by dimensions, e.g. grain size (in a colloidal state B01J35/23; crystallite size B01J35/77) · CPC title

• B01J35/31

  Density · CPC title

• B01J21/08

  Silica · CPC title

• C07C253/18 Primary

  by reaction of ammonia or amines with compounds containing carbon-to-carbon multiple bonds other than in six-membered aromatic rings · CPC title

• B01J8/0025 Primary

  by an ascending fluid · CPC title