System for integrated catalytic cracking with ethanol conversion to fuel

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9732283-B2
Application number	US-201514964749-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 10, 2015
Priority date	Dec 26, 2014
Publication date	Aug 15, 2017
Grant date	Aug 15, 2017

Abstract

System relating to the conversion of ethanol in a stripper unit of a fluidized catalytic cracking system. An ethanol stream comprising at least 4 volume percent water mixes with a catalyst in the stripper unit under conditions of temperature that favor conversion of the ethanol to hydrocarbons, thereby increasing incorporation of ethanol into liquid transportation fuels without exceeding regulatory limits on fuel vapor pressure. Certain embodiments additionally combine the ethanol stream with a hydrocarbon stream in the stripper and react in the presence of a catalyst to produce hydrocarbons that may have an increased boiling point, increased octane rating, decreased vapor pressure, decreased benzene content, or combinations of these properties.

First claim

We claim:

1. A system for converting ethanol to liquid transportation fuels, comprising:
a catalyst;
an ethanol stream;
a hydrocarbon stream;
a conversion unit that is operable at a temperature between about 260° C. and about 550° C. and comprises at least a first inlet configured to receive the catalyst, a second inlet configured to receive the ethanol stream and a third inlet configured to receive the hydrocarbon stream,
wherein the arrangement of the first inlet and the second inlet is configured to facilitate rapid mixing of the catalyst with the ethanol stream and the hydrocarbon stream,
wherein the conversion unit is configured to receive and facilitate reacting of the ethanol stream and the hydrocarbon stream with the catalyst to produce a mixed product stream comprising hydrocarbons having an increased average molecular weight relative to the hydrocarbon stream; and

a fluidized catalytic cracking unit comprising:
a riser configured to crack a petroleum derived feedstock to produce a cracked hydrocarbon stream;
a reactor main body configured to receive the mixed product stream from the conversion unit and separate the mixed product stream from the catalyst;
a regenerator configured to combust coke deposits accumulated on the catalyst to produce a regenerated catalyst.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the ethanol stream comprises water, wherein the conversion unit is operable to convert the water to steam, thereby preventing contact between the water and the catalyst.

3. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the ethanol stream is derived from biomass and comprises at least 4 weight percent of water.

4. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the ethanol stream is derived from biomass and comprises at least 20 weight percent water.

5. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the ethanol stream is derived from biomass and comprises at least 40 weight percent water.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon stream comprises at least one of cracked hydrocarbons, light olefins or benzene.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the conversion unit further comprises a first outlet operable to discharge a mixed product stream comprising hydrocarbons and catalyst to the reactor.

8. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon stream comprises cracked hydrocarbons produced in the riser of the fluidized catalytic cracking unit.

9. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon stream is a fraction obtained from a fractionator located immediately downstream from the fluidized catalytic cracking unit.

10. The system according to claim 9 , wherein the hydrocarbon stream comprises benzene.

Assignees

• Phillips 66 Co

Inventors

• Yao Jianhua
• Henning William D
• Alvarez Walter E

Classifications

• C10G11/18 Primary

  according to the "fluidised-bed" technique · CPC title

• Y02P30/20

  using bio-feedstock · CPC title

• C10G2300/1011

  Biomass · CPC title

• C10G3/57

  according to the fluidised bed technique · CPC title

• C10G2300/1096

  Aromatics or polyaromatics · CPC title