Continuous photochemical production of high purity linear mercaptan and sulfide compositions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12037310-B2
Application number	US-202117342737-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 9, 2021
Priority date	Jun 10, 2020
Publication date	Jul 16, 2024
Grant date	Jul 16, 2024

Abstract

Continuous photochemical production of high purity linear mercaptan and sulfide-containing compositions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for producing a high purity product thiol from hydrogen sulfide and an olefin comprising:
a reactor system configured to receive the hydrogen sulfide and the olefin and to produce a reactor effluent stream comprising the product thiol, unreacted hydrogen sulfide, unreacted olefin and other components, and
separation means to separate said reactor effluent stream into a first portion and a second portion, wherein the reactor system is further configured to recycle said first portion of the reactor effluent stream back the reactor system;
a flash vaporizer in communication with the separation means, wherein the flash vaporizer is configured to receive said second portion of the reactor effluent stream and to produce:
a hydrogen sulfide recycle stream comprising at least a portion of the unreacted hydrogen sulfide, and a crude thiol stream comprising the product thiol, the unreacted olefin and the other components and wherein the flash vaporizer is configured to feed the hydrogen sulfide recycle stream to the reactor system;

a crude thiol separation system in communication with the flash vaporizer and the reactor system, wherein the crude thiol separation system is configured to receive the crude thiol stream, wherein the crude thiol separation system is configured to:
separate at least a portion of the unreacted olefin from the crude thiol stream to produce an olefin recycle stream comprising the unreacted olefin, a first by-product stream comprising a first portion of the other components, and a crude thiol product stream comprising the product thiol and a second portion of the other components; and
feed the olefin recycle stream to the reactor system; and

a product thiol purification unit in communication with the crude thiol separation system, wherein the product thiol purification unit is configured to:
receive the crude thiol product stream; and
produce a product thiol stream comprising purified product thiol comprising at least 98.5 weight percent of the product thiol and a second by-product stream comprising the second portion of the other components.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a sulfide cracking and stripping unit in communication with the thiol product purification unit and the crude thiol separation unit, wherein the sulfide cracking and stripping unit is configured to:
receive the second by-product stream comprising the second portion of the other components comprising sulfides;
convert the sulfides into olefins and thiols;
produce a third by-product stream comprising the sulfides; and
feed the olefins and thiols to the crude thiol separation system.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the crude thiol separation system comprises an olefin separation unit in communication with a crude thiol separation unit, and wherein the crude thiol separation unit is in communication with the flash vaporizer and the product thiol purification unit, and wherein:
the crude thiol separation unit is configured to:
receive the crude stream;
produce the crude product thiol stream and an olefin stream; and
feed the olefin stream to the olefin separation unit; and

the olefin separation unit is configured to:
separate the olefin stream; and
produce the first by-product stream and the olefin recycle stream.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the product thiol purification unit includes at least one distillation column containing structured packing.

5. An apparatus for producing a high purity product sulfide from hydrogen sulfide or R 1 SH, and an olefin of formula C x H (2x) comprising:
a reactor system, wherein the reactor system is configured to:
receive the hydrogen sulfide or the R 1 SH, and the olefin of formula C x H (2x) to form a reactor effluent stream comprising the product sulfide, unreacted hydrogen sulfide or unreacted olefin of formula C x H (2x) , unreacted R 1 SH, and other components;

reactor effluent stream separation means to separate said reactor effluent stream into a first portion and a second portion, wherein the reactor system is further configured to recycle said first portion of the reactor effluent stream back the reactor system; and
a sulfide separation system, wherein the sulfide separation system is in communication with the reactor effluent stream separation means and is configured to:
receive said second portion of the reactor effluent stream from the reactor effluent stream separation means; and
produce at least one recycle stream comprising at least a portion of the unreacted hydrogen sulfide, the unreacted olefin of formula C x H (2x) , the unreacted R 1 SH, and other components, and a product stream comprising the high purity product sulfide.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the sulfide separation system comprises a first separation unit in communication with the reactor system and a product sulfide purification system in communication with the first separation unit, and wherein the first separation unit is configured to:
receive the reactor effluent stream from the reactor system;
produce a first portion of the at least one recycle stream comprising the at least a portion of the unreacted hydrogen sulfide, the unreacted R 1 SH or the unreacted olefin of formula C x H (2x) , and the other components, and a crude sulfide stream comprising the product sulfide and the other of the unreacted R 1 SH or the unreacted olefin of formula C x H (2x) ; and
feed the crude sulfide stream comprising the product sulfide to the product sulfide purification system; and
wherein the product sulfide purification system is configured to:
produce a second portion of the at least one recycle stream comprising at least a portion of the other of the unreacted R 1 SH or the unreacted olefin of formula C x H (2x) , and a sulfide product stream comprising the purified product sulfide.

7. The apparatus according to claim 5 , comprising a flash vaporizer in communication with the reactor system and the sulfide separation system, and wherein the flash vaporizer is configured to:
receive the second portion of the reactor effluent;
produce a lights recycle stream comprising at least a portion of the unreacted hydrogen.

Assignees

• Arkema Inc

Inventors

• Chauvin Jean-Philippe R
• Lordan Brian E
• Cheung Patricia Wing-Kee
• Srinivas Vijay R
• Polli Andrew D

Classifications

• C07C319/28

  Separation; Purification · CPC title

• B01D3/06

  Flash distillation · CPC title

• B01J2219/00101

  Reflux columns · CPC title

• B01J19/123

  Ultraviolet light · CPC title

• Y02P20/582

  Recycling of unreacted starting or intermediate materials · CPC title