Side chamber process monitor for adsorptive separation process

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021255152-A1
Application number	US-202016793522-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 18, 2020
Priority date	Feb 18, 2020
Publication date	Aug 19, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

Processes and apparatus for analyzing fluid properties of a stream are described. The processes utilize a simulated moving bed system and a rotary valve. The processes involve sending a portion of the pump-around stream to a side chamber where the moisture content of the adsorbent in the side chamber or one or more fluid properties of the stream or both are measured using an analyzer specific to each fluid property.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A process for analyzing fluid properties of a stream comprising:
providing a simulated moving bed system comprising a plurality of adsorbent sub-beds in fluid communication with each other and with a rotary valve for separating one or more selectively adsorbed components from a feed stream comprising the one or more selectively adsorbed components and one or more non-selectively adsorbed components; rotating the rotary valve to a first valve position to direct the feed stream to a first sub-bed of the plurality of sub-beds; introducing a portion of a pump-around stream between two of the adsorbent sub-beds into a side chamber comprising an adsorbent; measuring a moisture content of the adsorbent in the side chamber or at least one fluid property of the portion of the pump-around stream in the side chamber or both using an analyzer.

2 . The process of claim 1 wherein the at least one fluid property comprises at least one of: a moisture content of the pump-around stream, a composition of the pump-around stream, or a concentration of a hydrocarbon species of the pump-around stream.

3 . The process of claim 2 wherein the at least one fluid property is the composition of the portion of the pump-around stream and wherein the analyzer is a gas chromatograph.

4 . The process of claim 2 wherein the at least one fluid property is the concentration of a hydrocarbon species in the portion of the pump-around stream and wherein the analyzer comprises a spectrometer.

5 . The process of claim 2 wherein the at least one fluid property is the moisture content of the pump-around stream and wherein the analyzer comprises a moisture analyzer.

6 . The process of claim 1 wherein the moisture content of the adsorbent is measured and wherein the portion of the pump-around stream is in direct contact with the adsorbent.

7 . The process of claim 6 wherein the analyzer is a moisture analyzer.

8 . The process of claim 1 further comprising:
returning the portion of the pump-around stream from the side chamber to a remainder of the pump-around stream after measuring the at least one fluid property.

9 . The process of claim 1 wherein the feed stream comprises C 8 aromatics and the selectively adsorbed component comprises para-xylene.

10 . The process of claim 1 wherein rotating the rotary valve comprises rotating the rotary valve to a plurality of valve positions that each direct the feed stream to a different one of the sub-beds, and measuring the at least one fluid property is repeated for each of the plurality of valve positions to assess the at least one fluid property at each valve position.

11 . The process of claim 10 wherein a number of the plurality of valve positions corresponds to a number of the plurality of sub-beds, wherein the number of the plurality of valve positions is 24 defining a full valve cycle, and wherein rotating the rotary valve comprises rotating the rotary valve for the full valve cycle, and measuring the at least one fluid property is repeated until the full valve cycle is completed.

12 . A process for analyzing fluid properties of a stream comprising:
providing a simulated moving bed system comprising a plurality of adsorbent sub-beds in fluid communication with each other and with a rotary valve for separating one or more selectively adsorbed components from a feed stream comprising the one or more selectively adsorbed components and one or more non-adsorbed components; rotating the rotary valve to a first valve position to direct the feed stream to a first sub-bed of the plurality of sub-beds; introducing a portion of a pump-around stream between two of the adsorbent sub-beds into a side chamber comprising an adsorbent and wherein the portion of the pump-around stream is in direct contact with the adsorbent; measuring a moisture content of the adsorbent using a moisture analyzer.

13 . The process of claim 12 further comprising:
measuring at least one additional fluid property of the portion of the pump-around stream.

14 . The process of claim 13 wherein the at least one additional fluid property comprises at least one of: a moisture content of the pump-around stream, a composition of the pump-around stream, or a concentration of a hydrocarbon species of the pump-around stream.

15 . The process of claim 12 further comprising:
returning the portion of the pump-around stream from the side chamber to a remainder of the pump-around stream after measuring the property.

16 . The process of claim 12 wherein the feed stream comprises C 8 aromatics and the selectively adsorbed component comprises para-xylene.

17 . The process of claim 12 wherein rotating the rotary valve comprises rotating the rotary valve to a plurality of valve positions that each direct the feed stream to a different one of the sub-beds, and measuring the at least one fluid property is repeated for each of the plurality of valve positions to assess the at least one fluid property at each valve position.

18 . A simulated moving bed system for separating one or more selectively adsorbed components from a feed stream comprising the selectively adsorbed component and one or more non-selectively adsorbed components, the system comprising:
a plurality of adsorbent sub-beds in fluid communication with each other and comprising two sub-beds in direct fluid communication with each other via a pump-around stream; a rotary valve in fluid communication with each of the plurality of sub-beds and configured to rotate to a plurality of valve positions that each direct the feed stream to a different one of the plurality of sub-beds; a side chamber in fluid communication with the pump-around stream; and an analyzer for a property in communication with the side chamber.

19 . The system of claim 18 wherein the analyzer is selected from a moisture analyzer, a gas chromatograph, or a spectrometer.

20 . The system of claim 18 wherein there are at least two analyzers in the side chamber.

Assignees

• Uop Llc

Inventors

• Harris James W
• Fleitz Heather A
• Ernst Gregory A
• Williams Chad A

Classifications

• B01J20/18

  Synthetic zeolitic molecular sieves · CPC title

• G01N30/7206 Primary

  interfaced to gas chromatograph (interfaces in general for introducing or extracting samples to be analysed with specially adapted mass spectrometer, see H01J49/04) · CPC title

• B01J2220/54

  Sorbents specially adapted for analytical or investigative chromatography · CPC title

• B01J20/281

  Sorbents specially adapted for preparative, analytical or investigative chromatography · CPC title

• B01D2257/7027

  Aromatic hydrocarbons · CPC title