Process for purifying a hydrocarbon feed

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9714390-B2
Application number	US-201314387874-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 11, 2013
Priority date	Mar 26, 2012
Publication date	Jul 25, 2017
Grant date	Jul 25, 2017

Abstract

A process for purifying a hydrocarbon feed, using a first adsorption unit with first and second adsorption columns respectively filled with first and second adsorbent solids by simultaneously:
a) treating the liquid phase hydrocarbon feed in the first adsorption column by contact with the first adsorbent solid to adsorb at least a portion of impurities present and to produce hydrocarbon effluent which is depleted in impurities; b) treating a secondary liquid hydrocarbon feed constituted either by a fraction of the hydrocarbon feed or by a fraction of the hydrocarbon effluent and depleted in impurities to purify the secondary liquid hydrocarbon feed; c) heating the treated secondary liquid hydrocarbon feed from step b); d) regenerating the second adsorbent solid of the second adsorption column which comprises impurities with the secondary hydrocarbon feed heated in step c) to desorb the impurities to produce an effluent with impurities.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process for purifying a hydrocarbon feed comprising impurities, in which the following steps are carried out simultaneously:
a) treating the hydrocarbon feed in the liquid phase in a first adsorption unit comprising a first and a second adsorption column ( 1 , 2 ) respectively filled with a first and second adsorbent solid, the first and second adsorption columns ( 1 , 2 ) operating in parallel and alternately in adsorption mode or in regeneration mode, said hydrocarbon feed being introduced into the first adsorption column ( 1 ) and brought into contact with the first adsorbent solid, and a hydrocarbon effluent which is depleted in impurities is taken off at an outlet from the first adsorption column ( 1 );
b) treating a secondary liquid hydrocarbon feed, which is constituted either by a fraction of the hydrocarbon feed or by a fraction of the hydrocarbon effluent depleted in impurities from step a), in a second adsorption unit, and a treated secondary liquid hydrocarbon feed is taken off from said second adsorption unit;
c) heating the treated secondary liquid hydrocarbon feed obtained from step b) to a temperature of from 100 to 350° C.;
d) regenerating the second adsorbent solid of the second adsorption column ( 2 ) with the treated secondary hydrocarbon feed heated in step c) by bring said treated secondary hydrocarbon feed into contact with the second adsorbent solid in order to desorb the impurities from the second adsorbent solid and produce a first effluent charged with impurities, step d) being carried out by sending said heated secondary hydrocarbon feed to the second adsorption column in a counter-current direction to the flow of the hydrocarbon feed being introduced into the first adsorption column ( 1 ), in which the second adsorption unit of step b) comprises a third and fourth adsorption column ( 3 , 4 ) respectively comprising a third and fourth adsorbent solid, in which the secondary liquid hydrocarbon feed is brought into contact in the third adsorption column ( 3 ) with the third adsorbent solid so as to produce the treated secondary liquid hydrocarbon feed, and in which the effluent charged with impurities obtained from the second adsorption column ( 2 ) in step d) is sent to the fourth adsorption column ( 4 ) so as to regenerate the fourth adsorbent solid and evacuate a second effluent charged with impurities.

2. The process as claimed in claim 1 , in which the mode of operation of the third and fourth adsorption columns is switched so that the fourth adsorption column ( 4 ) is used to treat the secondary liquid hydrocarbon feed in an adsorption mode and the third adsorption column ( 3 ) is used in a regeneration mode to regenerate the effluent charged with impurities obtained from the second adsorption column ( 2 ).

3. The process as claimed in claim 1 , in which at least a portion of organo-sulphur compounds present in the secondary liquid hydrocarbon feed is eliminated by adsorption in the second adsorption unit of step b).

4. The process as claimed in claim 1 , in which the mode of operation of the first and second adsorption columns ( 1 , 2 ) is switched such that the second adsorption column ( 2 ) operates in adsorption mode and the first column ( 1 ) operates in regeneration mode when an adsorption capacity of the first adsorption solid is reached.

5. The process as claimed in claim 2 , in which the mode of operation of the first and second adsorption columns ( 1 , 2 ) is switched such that the second adsorption column ( 2 ) operates in adsorption mode and the first column ( 1 ) operates in regeneration mode when the adsorption capacity of the first adsorption solid is reached, in which the mode of operation, adsorption or regeneration, of the first and third columns ( 1 , 3 ) is switched simultaneously and the mode of operation, adsorption or regeneration, of the second and fourth adsorption columns ( 2 , 4 ) is switched simultaneously.

6. The process as claimed in claim 1 , in which the dimensions of the second adsorption unit are such that it can treat a quantity of the secondary liquid hydrocarbon feed necessary and sufficient to regenerate the second adsorbent solid.

7. The process as claimed in claim 1 , in which the hydrocarbon feed is selected from a cut comprising hydrocarbons containing 2 to 8 carbon atoms and a cut comprising hydrocarbons having boiling points in the range 0° C. to 200° C.

8. The process as claimed in claim 1 , in which the adsorbent solids of the first and/or the second adsorption unit comprise at least one element selected from activated or promoted aluminas, clays, molecular sieves such as zeolites, silica gels, silica-aluminas, activated carbon, metallic oxides (by themselves or mixed with one or more binders or deposited on a support), metallic sulphides (by themselves or mixed with one or more binders or deposited on a support), reduced metals (by themselves or mixed with one or more binders or deposited on a support) which may optionally be doped and/or sulphurized, and MOFs (Metal Organic Frameworks).

Assignees

• Axens

Inventors

• Villechange Isabelle
• Frising Tom

Classifications

• C10G25/00

  Refining of hydrocarbon oils in the absence of hydrogen, with solid sorbents · CPC title

• C10G53/16

  plural parallel stages only · CPC title

• C10G67/06

  including a sorption process as the refining step in the absence of hydrogen · CPC title

• B01D15/18

  relating to flow patterns · CPC title

• B01D15/1885

  placed in parallel · CPC title