Process for separating heavy by-products and catalyst ligan from a vapour stream comprising aldehyde

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024051908-A1
Application number	US-202218260558-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 23, 2022
Priority date	Feb 25, 2021
Publication date	Feb 15, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

A process for separating heavy by-products and catalyst ligand from a vapour stream comprising aldehyde, the heavy by-products and the catalyst ligand the process comprises passing the vapour stream to a fractionator in which the vapour stream is contacted with liquid aldehyde which removes at least a portion of the catalyst ligand and at least a portion of the heavy by-products from the vapour stream, recovering a liquid bottom stream, comprising removed catalyst ligand from the fractionator; recovering a scrubbed vapour stream from the fractionator, condensing a first portion of the scrubbed vapour stream to create the liquid aldehyde, and recovering a second portion of the scrubbed vapour stream as a product aldehyde stream. The liquid bottom stream is passed to a separation system to separate some aldehyde from the liquid bottom stream to create a recovered aldehyde stream, comprising the separated aldehyde.

First claim

1 - 20 . (canceled)

21 . A process for separating heavy by-products and catalyst ligand from a vapour stream comprising aldehyde, the heavy by-products and the catalyst ligand, the process comprising: passing the vapour stream to a fractionator in which the vapour stream is contacted with liquid aldehyde which removes at least a portion of the catalyst ligand and at least a portion of the heavy by-products from the vapour stream; recovering a liquid bottom stream, comprising removed catalyst ligand, removed heavy by-products and some of the aldehyde, from the fractionator; recovering a scrubbed vapour stream from the fractionator; condensing a first portion of the scrubbed vapour stream to create the liquid aldehyde, for reflux back to the fractionator; and recovering a second portion of the scrubbed vapour stream as a product aldehyde stream, wherein the liquid bottom stream is passed to a separation system to separate at least some aldehyde from the liquid bottom stream to create a recovered aldehyde stream, comprising the separated aldehyde, and a waste stream comprising the removed catalyst ligand and the removed heavy by-products.

22 . The process according to claim 21 wherein the temperature at the bottom of the fractionator is not more than 140° C.

23 . The process according to claim 21 , wherein the separation system comprises a distillation column.

24 . The process according to claim 23 wherein the temperature at the bottom of the distillation column is greater than the temperature at the bottom of the fractionator.

25 . The process according to claim 23 , wherein the pressure in the distillation column is lower than the pressure in the fractionator.

26 . The process according to claim 23 , wherein the distillation column is operated such that the temperature at the bottom of the distillation column is not more than 140° C.

27 . The process according to claim 21 , wherein the fractionator includes a reboiler.

28 . The process according to claim 27 , wherein the reboiler is operated such that the temperature at the bottom of the fractionator is at least 90° C.

29 . The process according to claim 21 , wherein the liquid bottom stream comprises at least 50 wt % aldehyde.

30 . The process according to claim 21 , wherein the recovered aldehyde stream is recycled to a point in the process upstream of the fractionator.

31 . The process according to claim 21 , wherein the catalyst ligand comprises an organophosphorus ligand.

32 . The process according to claim 21 , wherein the catalyst ligand comprises triphenylphosphine.

33 . The process according to claim 21 , wherein the catalyst ligand has a vapour pressure of at least 0.01 mbar at 160° C.

34 . The process according to claim 21 , wherein the aldehyde is a C 3 to C 6 aldehyde.

35 . The process according to claim 21 , wherein the process further comprises forming the vapour stream by passing a liquid output stream from a hydroformylation process, the liquid output stream comprising the aldehyde, catalyst, the catalyst ligand and the heavy by-products, to a separator and recovering the vapour stream from the separator.

36 . The process according to claim 35 , wherein the hydroformylation process comprises feeding catalyst, the catalyst ligand, olefins and carbon monoxide to one or more hydroformylation reactors; reacting the olefins with the carbon monoxide to form the aldehyde and the heavy by-products; and recovering the liquid output stream comprising the aldehyde, the catalyst, the catalyst ligand and the heavy by-products.

37 . The process according to claim 21 , wherein the process further comprises passing the aldehyde in the aldehyde product stream to one or more reactors for: hydrogenation of the aldehyde to produce an aliphatic alcohol; amination of the aldehyde to produce an aliphatic amine; oxidation of the aldehyde to produce an aliphatic acid; aldol condensation of the aldehyde to produce an acrolein; or aldol condensation of the aldehyde to produce an acrolein followed by hydrogenation of the acrolein to an aliphatic alcohol.

38 . The process according to claim 37 , wherein the process comprises passing the aldehyde in the aldehyde product stream to one or more reactors for: liquid phase hydrogenation of the aldehyde to produce an aliphatic alcohol; or aldol condensation of the aldehyde to produce an acrolein followed by liquid phase hydrogenation of the acrolein to an aliphatic alcohol.

39 . The process according to claim 37 , wherein the process comprises purifying the aliphatic alcohol, aliphatic amine, aliphatic acid, or acrolein.

40 . An aliphatic alcohol, aliphatic amine, aliphatic acid, or an acrolein obtained by a process according to claim 37 .

Assignees

• Johnson Matthey Davy Technologies Ltd

Inventors

• Smidt Martin

Classifications

• C07C45/83 Primary

  by extractive distillation · CPC title

• B01D3/143

  by two or more of a fractionation, separation or rectification step · CPC title

• B01D3/40

  Extractive distillation · CPC title

• C07C45/783 Primary

  by gas-liquid treatment, e.g. by gas-liquid absorption · CPC title

• C07C45/82

  by distillation · CPC title