Renewable transportation fuel process with thermal oxidation system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11578278-B2
Application number	US-202117361680-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 29, 2021
Priority date	Aug 1, 2020
Publication date	Feb 14, 2023
Grant date	Feb 14, 2023

Abstract

A process for treating effluent streams in a renewable transportation fuel production process is described. One or more of the sour water stream and an acid gas stream are treated directly in thermal oxidation section. The process allows the elimination or size reduction of a sour water stripper unit, waste water treatment plant, and sulfur recovery unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A process for treating acid gas and sour water effluent streams in a process for producing renewable transportation fuel comprising:
thermally oxidizing at least one of a sour water stream from a cold separation and fractionation section of the renewable transportation fuel process and an amine acid gas stream from an acid gas treatment section of the renewable transportation fuel process in a thermal oxidation system, wherein the sour water stream is not treated in a sour water stripper unit before being thermally oxidized in the thermal oxidation system and the amine acid gas stream is not treated in a sulfur recovery unit before being thermally oxidized in the thermal oxidation system, and wherein thermally oxidizing the at least one of the sour water stream and the amine acid gas stream comprises:
thermally oxidizing the at least one of the sour water stream and the amine acid gas stream in a thermal oxidizing section forming a flue gas stream consisting essentially of at least one of H 2 O, CO 2 , N 2 , O 2 , SOx, NOx, HCl, Cl 2 , dioxins, and furans;
optionally recovering waste heat from the flue gas stream in a waste heat recovery section;
removing at least one of SOx, HCl, and Cl 2 from the flue gas stream in a SOx removal section to form a de-SOx outlet flue gas stream consisting essentially of at least one of H 2 O, CO 2 , N 2 , O 2 , NOx, dioxins, and furans, wherein removing the at least one of SOx, HCl, and Cl 2 from the flue gas stream comprises:
quenching the flue gas stream in a quench section to form a quenched flue gas stream; and
contacting a caustic solution or an NH 3 based solution with the quenched flue gas stream in a scrubbing section to form the de-SOx outlet flue gas stream and a liquid stream comprising at least one of H 2 O, Na 2 SO 3 , Na 2 SO 4 , NaHSO 3 , Na 2 CO 3 , NaCl, (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 , and NH 4 Cl;
or
reacting the flue gas stream with a reactant in an SOx reaction section to form a reaction section flue gas stream consisting essentially of at least one of H 2 O, CO 2 , N 2 , O 2 , NaCl, Na 2 CO 3 , Na 2 SO 4 , NaNO 3 , CaCl 2 , CaSO 4 , CaCO 3 , Ca(NO 3 ) 2 , MgCl 2 , MgCO 3 , MgSO 4 , Mg(NO 3 ) 2 , Cl 2 , NOx, dioxins, and furans, wherein the reactant comprises at least one of NaHCO 3 , NaHCO 3 .Na 2 CO 3 .2(H 2 O), CaCO 3 , Ca(OH) 2 , and Mg(OH) 2 ; and
filtering the reaction section flue gas stream in a filtration section to remove NaCl, Na 2 CO 3 , Na 2 SO 4 , NaNO 3 , CaCl 2 ), CaSO 4 , CaCO 3 , Ca(NO 3 ) 2 , MgCl 2 , MgCO 3 , MgSO 4 , and Mg(NO 3 ) 2 to form the de-SOx outlet flue gas stream;

optionally removing NOx from the de-SOx outlet flue gas stream in an NOx removal section to form a de-NOx outlet flue gas stream consisting essentially of at least one of H 2 O, CO 2 , N 2 , O 2 , dioxins, and furans; and
optionally removing dioxin, furan, or both from the de-SOx outlet flue gas stream or the de-NOx outlet flue gas stream in a dioxin-furan removal section to form a treated outlet flue gas stream consisting essentially of at least one of H 2 O, CO 2 , N 2 , and O 2 .

2. The process of claim 1 wherein the sour water stream comprises at least one of a cold separator sour water stream from a cold separator in the cold separation and fractionation section, a de-butanizer receiver sour water stream from a de-butanizer in the cold separation and fractionation section, and a stripper receiver sour water stream from a stripper receiver in the cold separation and fractionation section.

3. The process of claim 1 wherein the amine acid gas stream comprises a regenerator amine acid gas stream from a common amine regenerator overhead condenser and reflux drum.

4. The process of claim 3 further comprising:
at least one of:
contacting a first portion of a lean amine stream with an acid recycle gas stream from a cold separator in the cold separation and fractionation section in a recycle gas amine contactor to form a first portion of a rich amine stream;
contacting a first portion of a lean amine stream with an acid liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stream from a de-butanizer receiver vessel in the cold separation and fractionation section in a de-butanizer receiver amine contactor to form a second portion of a rich amine stream; and
contacting a third portion of a lean amine stream with a lean acid gas stream from a sponge absorber in the cold separation and fractionation section in a sponge absorber lean gas overhead amine contactor to form a third portion of a rich amine stream;

regenerating at least one of the first, second, and third portions of the rich amine stream in the common amine regenerator to form the lean amine stream and an overhead regenerator amine acid gas stream;
separating the overhead amine acid gas stream into the regenerator amine acid gas stream and a reflux liquid stream in an amine regenerator overhead condenser; and
refluxing the reflux liquid stream to the common amine regenerator.

5. The process of claim 3 further comprising:
separating a purge stream from an acid recycle gas stream from a cold separator in the cold separation and fractionation section in a pressure swing adsorption unit into a recycle hydrogen stream and a PSA tail gas stream, combining the recycle hydrogen stream with the acid recycle gas stream, and introducing the PSA tail gas stream into the thermal oxidation system as fuel;
contacting a second portion of a lean amine stream with an acid liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stream from a de-butanizer receiver vessel in the cold separation and fractionation section in a de-butanizer receiver amine contactor to form a second portion of a rich amine stream; and
contacting a third portion of a lean amine stream with a lean acid gas stream from a sponge absorber in the cold separation and fractionation section in a sponge absorber lean gas overhead amine contactor to form a third portion of a rich amine stream;
regenerating at least one of the second and third portions of the rich amine stream in the common amine regenerator to form the lean amine stream and an overhead regenerator amine acid gas stream;
separating the overhead amine acid gas stream into the regenerator amine acid gas stream and a reflux liquid stream in an amine regenerator overhead condenser; and
refluxing the reflux liquid stream to the common amine regenerator.

6. The process of claim 1 further comprising
preheating the sour water stream before thermally oxidizing the sour water stream using steam from the process for producing renewable transportation fuel or from recovered heat from the waste heat recovery section.

7. The process of claim 1 further comprising:
introducing a renewable feedstock to a guard bed to remove contaminants comprising one or more of alkali metals, oxygen compounds, sulfur compounds, and nitrogen compounds from the renewable feedstock;
treating a renewable feedstock to remove additional oxygen compounds from the renewable feedstock;
contacting the renewable feedstock with a hydroisomerization catalyst, a hydrocracking catalyst, or both in the presence of hydrogen under hydroisomerization and hydrocracking conditions in a hydroisomerization and hydrocracking section to form a reaction effluent; and
separating and fractionating the reaction effluent in the cold separation and fractionation section to form at least one renewable transportation fuel.

8. The process of claim 7 wherein separating and fractionating the reaction effluent comprises:
separating the reactor effluent in a cold separator into a liquid hydrocarbon stream, a cold separator recycle acid gas stream, and a cold separator sour water stream;
stripping the liquid hydrocarbon stream into a stripper overhead stream and a stripper bottom stream;
separating the strippe

Assignees

• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• De Ren Jan
• Zhu Xin X

Classifications

• B01D2251/11

  Air · CPC title

• Y02P30/20

  using bio-feedstock · CPC title

• Y02P20/151

  Reduction of greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions, e.g. CO2 · CPC title

• Y02P20/129

  Energy recovery, e.g. by cogeneration, H2recovery or pressure recovery turbines · CPC title

• C10K1/121

  containing NH3 only (possibly in combination with NH4 salts) · CPC title