Method for separating organofluorine compounds using membrane

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016152536-A1
Application number	US-201414903627-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 8, 2014
Priority date	Jul 12, 2013
Publication date	Jun 2, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of separating a composition containing at least one organofluorine compound from at least one inorganic compound by contacts the composition with a semipermeable membrane. Other methods separate a organofluorine compound from a composition containing at least one other organofluorine compound or chlorocarbon. Methods also include isolating a single organofluorine compound from a composition comprising a mixture of organofluorine compounds, chlorocarbons, and/or inorganic compounds.

First claim

1 . A process for separating an organofluorine compound from a composition, comprising:
contacting a feed stream comprising at least one organofluorine compound and at least one additional compound with a semipermeable membrane to form a first stream rich in the at least one organofluorine compound.

2 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the at least one additional compound is chosen from inorganic compounds, and additional organofluorine compounds, and organochlorines.

3 . The process of claim 2 , wherein the feed stream comprises at least one organofluorine compound and at least one inorganic compound, and contacting the feed stream with a semipermeable membrane forms a first stream rich in the at least one organofluorine compound and a second stream rich in the at least one inorganic compound.

4 . The process of claim 3 , wherein the at least one organofluorine compound and the at least one inorganic compound form an azeotrope or azeotrope-like mixture.

5 . The process of claim 3 , wherein the at least one inorganic compound is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen fluoride (HF), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), hydrogen chloride (HCl), water, oxygen, nitrogen, NOx, chlorine, and mixtures thereof.

6 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the at least one inorganic compound comprises HF.

7 . The process of claim 2 , wherein the feed stream comprises a first organofluorine compound and at least one additional organofluorine compound and/or chlorocarbon, and contacting the feed stream with a semipermeable membrane forms a first stream rich in the first organofluorine compound and a second stream rich in the at least one additional organofluorine compound and/or organochlorine.

8 . The process of claim 7 , further comprising subjecting the second stream to at an additional separation process selected from an adsorption process, a distillation process, a phase separation process, or an additional membrane separation process.

9 . The process of claim 2 , wherein the feed stream comprises a first organofluorine compound, at least one additional organofluorine compound and/or organochlorine, and at least one inorganic compound, wherein contacting the feed stream with a semipermeable membrane forms a first stream rich in the first organofluorine compound and the at least one additional organofluorine compound and/or organochlorine and a second stream rich in the at least one inorganic compound.

10 . The process of claim 9 , further comprising contacting the first stream with a second semipermeable membrane to form a first stream rich in the first organofluorine compound and a second stream rich in the at least one additional organofluorine compound and/or organochlorine.

11 . The process of claim 9 , further comprising separating the first organofluorine compound and each of the at least one additional organofluorine compound and/or chlorocarbon into individual streams by contacting the first stream rich in the first organofluorine compound and the at least one additional organofluorine compound and/or organochlorine with a series of additional semipermeable membranes.

12 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the at least one organofluorine compound is selected from the group consisting of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), hydrochlorofluoroolefins (HCFOs), and mixtures thereof.

13 . The process of claim 12 , wherein the at least one organofluorine compound is selected from the group consisting of HFC-134a, HFC-125, HFC-32, HFC-23, HFC-1132a, HFC-142b, HFO-1234yf, HFO-1234ze, HFO-1243zf, HFO-1336mzz, HCFO-1233zd, HCFO-1233xf, and mixtures thereof.

14 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the at least one inorganic, compound comprises a polar compound having a molecular weight of 50 Da or less.

15 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the at least one organofluorine compound comprises 3 to 6 carbon atoms.

16 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the semipermeable membrane is selected from a film, a laminate, structure, hollow fibers, and coated fibers.

17 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the semipermeable membrane comprises at least one polymer selected from the group consisting of polyimide, polypropylene, polytetrafluoroethylene, polyvinylidene fluoride, polyvinyl fluoride, polychlorotrifluoroethylene, perfluoroalkoxy polymer, fluorinated ethylene-propylene, polyethylenetetrafluoroethylene, and perfluoropolyether.

18 . The process of claim 17 , wherein the semipermeable membrane comprises polyvinylidene fluoride.

19 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the process is carried out at a temperature ranging from about 0° C. to about 150° C.

20 . The process of claim 1 , further comprising subjecting the first stream to an additional separation process selected from an adsorption process, a distillation process, or a phase separation process, or an additional membrane separation process.

Assignees

• Arkema Inc

Inventors

• Elsheikh Maher Y
• Wismer John A
• Seshadri Sri R

Classifications

• B01D2251/306

  of potassium · CPC title

• B01D2257/2064

  Chlorine · CPC title

• B01D2257/80

  Water · CPC title

• B01D2257/2025

  Chlorine · CPC title

• B01D2257/404

  Nitrogen oxides other than dinitrogen oxide · CPC title