Gas/liquid oligomerization reactor having successive zones with variable diameters

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12544733-B2
Application number	US-202017783736-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 8, 2020
Priority date	Dec 18, 2019
Publication date	Feb 10, 2026
Grant date	Feb 10, 2026

Abstract

The present invention relates to a gas/liquid oligomerization reactor with successive zones of variable diameter. The invention also relates to a process for the oligomerization of ethylene using a gas/liquid oligomerization reactor with successive zones of variable diameter.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A gas/liquid oligomerization reactor comprising:
a reaction chamber ( 1 ), of elongate shape along a vertical axis, a means for introducing gaseous ethylene ( 2 ), located in a bottom of the reaction chamber, a means for withdrawing ( 5 ) a reaction liquid effluent, located in the bottom of the reaction chamber, and a means for purging ( 4 ) a gaseous fraction, located at the atop of said reactor; wherein
said chamber is composed of n consecutive zones having a diameter Dn which decreases in the direction from a bottom zone to a top zone of said chamber,
the ratio (Dn/Dn−1) of the diameter of an upper zone Dn, to the diameter of an adjacent lower zone Dn−1, is less than or equal to 0.9,
for a given zone, the ratio of the volume Vn, to the total volume of the reaction chamber, Vtot, (Vn/Vtot) is between 0.2 and 0.8,
the n consecutive zones are placed in series along a vertical axis of the reaction chamber reactor so as to define zones in the reaction chamber having diameters that decrease from a bottom of the reaction chamber to a top of the reaction chamber and thus to increase the height of a liquid phase that can be contained in said reaction chamber compared to a height of a constant-diameter reactor.

2 . The reactor according to claim 1 , wherein the number n of zones is between 2 and 5.

3 . The reactor according to claim 1 , wherein the ratio (Dn/Dn−1) of the diameter of an upper zone n to the diameter of an adjacent lower zone n−1 is between 0.1 and 0.9.

4 . The reactor according to claim 1 , wherein the ratio (Hn/Hn−1) of a height of an upper zone n, denoted Hn, to a height of an adjacent lower zone n−1, denoted Hn−1, is between 0.2 and 3.0, preferably between 0.3 and 2.5.

5 . The reactor according to claim 1 , wherein the ratio (Vn/Vtot) of the volume of a zone n of the reaction chamber, denoted Vn, to the total volume of the reaction chamber, denoted Vtot, corresponding to the volume of the sum of the n zones is between 0.25 and 0.75.

6 . The reactor according to claim 1 , wherein the n zones making up said reaction chamber are formed of cylinders of decreasing diameter.

7 . The reactor according to claim 1 , wherein the n zones making up said reaction chamber are formed by internals positioned inside the reaction chamber so as to reduce the reaction chamber its-diameter over a given zone.

8 . The reactor according to claim 1 , further comprising a recirculation loop comprising a withdrawal means on a lower part of the reaction chamber to withdraw a liquid fraction and to deliver the liquid fraction to one or more heat exchanger(s) capable of cooling the liquid fraction, and a means for introducing said cooled liquid fraction into an upper part of the reaction chamber.

9 . The reactor according to claim 1 , further comprising a means for withdrawing a gaseous fraction at a level of a gaseous headspace of the reaction chamber and a means for introducing the withdrawn gaseous fraction into a liquid phase in a lower part of the reaction chamber.

10 . An oligomerization process using the reactor as claimed in claim 1 , comprising:
conducting an oligomerization process in the reactor at a pressure between 0.1 and 10.0 MPa, at a temperature between 30° C. and 200° C., and wherein the process comprises the following steps:
a step a) of introducing a catalytic oligomerization system comprising a metal catalyst and an activating agent into the reaction chamber,
a step b) of bringing the catalytic system into contact with gaseous ethylene by introducing gaseous ethylene into a lower zone of the reaction chamber,
a step c) of withdrawing a liquid fraction,
a step d) of cooling the liquid fraction withdrawn in step c) by passing the liquid fraction through a heat exchanger,
a step e) of introducing the liquid fraction cooled in step d) into an upper part of the lower zone of the reaction chamber.

11 . The process according to claim 10 , further comprising recycling a gaseous fraction, withdrawn from an upper zone of the reaction chamber and introducing the gaseous fraction into a liquid phase in a lower part of the reaction chamber.

12 . The reactor according to claim 1 , wherein the ratio (Hn/Hn−1) of a height of an upper zone n, denoted Hn, to a height of an adjacent lower zone n−1, denoted Hn−1, is between 0.3 and 2.5.

13 . The reactor according to claim 1 , further comprising a recirculation loop comprising a withdrawal means at the bottom of the reaction chamber to withdraw a liquid fraction and to deliver the liquid fraction to one or more heat exchanger(s) capable of cooling the liquid fraction, and a means for introducing cooled liquid fraction into an upper part of the reaction chamber.

14 . The reactor according to claim 1 , wherein the number n of zones is between 2 and 4.

15 . The reactor according to claim 1 , wherein the ratio (Dn/Dn−1) of the diameter of an upper zone n to the diameter of an adjacent lower zone n−1 is between 0.15 and 0.85.

16 . The reactor according to claim 1 , wherein the ratio (Dn/Dn−1) of the diameter of an upper zone n to the diameter of an adjacent lower zone n−1 is between 0.3 and 0.7.

17 . The reactor according to claim 1 , wherein the ratio (Hn/Hn−1) of a height of an upper zone n, denoted Hn, to a height of an adjacent lower zone n−1, denoted Hn−1, is between 0.4 and 2.0.

18 . The reactor according to claim 1 , wherein the ratio (Hn/Hn−1) of a height of an upper zone n, denoted Hn, to a height of an adjacent lower zone n−1, denoted Hn−1, is between 0.6 and 1.0.

19 . The reactor according to claim 1 , wherein the ratio (Vn/Vtot) of the volume of a zone n of the reaction chamber, denoted Vn, to the total volume of the reaction chamber, denoted Vtot, corresponding to the volume of the sum of the n zones is between 0.3 and 0.7.

20 . The reactor according to claim 1 , wherein the ratio, Htot/D1, of the total height of the chamber, Htot, to the diameter of the bottom zone of said chamber, D1, is between 1 and 17.

Assignees

• Ifp Energies Now

Inventors

• Augier Frederic
• Vonner Alexandre
• Maximiano Raimundo Pedro

Classifications

• B01J19/0053

  Details of the reactor · CPC title

• B01J19/2465

  externally, i.e. the mixture leaving the vessel and subsequently re-entering it · CPC title

• B01J2219/00182

  controlling the level of reactants in the reactor vessel · CPC title

• C07C2/08

  Catalytic processes · CPC title

• B01J2219/00103

  in a heat exchanger separate from the reactor · CPC title