Activation and use of hydroalkylation catalysts

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9545622-B2
Application number	US-201113821957-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 20, 2011
Priority date	Oct 11, 2010
Publication date	Jan 17, 2017
Grant date	Jan 17, 2017

Abstract

A hydroalkylation catalyst comprising a molecular sieve and a compound of a hydrogenation metal is activated by treating the catalyst at a temperature of less than about 250° C. in the presence of hydrogen.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process comprising:
(a) providing a hydroalkylation catalyst comprising an MCM-22 family molecular sieve and a compound of a hydrogenation metal selected from palladium, ruthenium, nickel, zinc, tin, cobalt and mixtures thereof; and
(b) activating the hydroalkylation catalyst in the presence of hydrogen and a liquid phase diluent comprising an aromatic compound to provide for a reduction of the compound of the hydrogenation metal;
wherein the majority of the activation step (b), based on activation time, occurs at temperatures below 250° C.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein substantially the entire activation step (b), based on activation time, occurs at temperatures below 200° C.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the majority of the activation step (b), based on activation time, occurs at temperatures greater than 25° C.

4. The process of claim 1 , further comprising:
(c) reducing the water content of the hydroalkylation catalyst prior to activating step (b).

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein the activating step (b) is conducted in situ.

6. The process of claim 1 , wherein the activating step (b) is conducted for at least 1 hour.

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein the activating step (b) is conducted for at least 5 hours.

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein the majority of the activation step (b), based on activation time, occurs at temperatures between 0° C. and 200° C.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein the majority of the activation step (b), based on activation time, occurs at temperatures between about 0° C. and about 150° C.

10. The process of claim 1 , wherein the activating step (b) is conducted at a pressure of about 0 to about 4000 kPa, gauge.

11. The process of claim 1 , wherein the diluent comprises benzene.

12. The process of claim 1 , wherein the hydrogenation metal comprises palladium.

13. A process for activating a hydroalkylation catalyst, the process comprising:
(a) providing a hydroalkylation catalyst comprising an MCM-22 family molecular sieve and a compound of a hydrogenation metal selected from palladium, ruthenium, nickel, zinc, tin cobalt, and mixtures thereof;
(b) reducing the moisture of the hydroalkylation catalyst; and
(c) activating the hydroalkylation catalyst in the presence of hydrogen and in the presence of a liquid phase diluent comprising an aromatic compound to provide for a reduction of the compound of the hydrogenation metal wherein the hydrogen at least partially dissolves in the liquid phase diluent;
wherein the majority of the activation step (c), based on activation time, occurs at temperatures of below 250° C.

Assignees

• Xu Teng
• Lemon Jr Edward Andrew
• Helton Terry Eugene
• Chen Tan-Jen
• Smith Charles Morris
• Exxonmobil Chemical Patents Inc

Inventors

• Xu Teng
• Lemon Jr Edward Andrew
• Helton Terry Eugene
• Chen Tan-Jen
• Smith Charles Morris

Classifications

• B01J2229/40

  Special temperature treatment, i.e. other than just for template removal · CPC title

• Y02P20/52

  using catalysts, e.g. selective catalysts · CPC title

• C07C13/28

  Polycyclic hydrocarbons or acyclic hydrocarbon derivatives thereof · CPC title

• C07C2101/14

  Chemistry & Metallurgy · mapped topic

• C07C2529/74

  Noble metals · CPC title