Regeneration loop clean-up

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9994500-B2
Application number	US-201615345905-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 8, 2016
Priority date	Jul 16, 2014
Publication date	Jun 12, 2018
Grant date	Jun 12, 2018

Abstract

A process is disclosed for removing contaminants from an olefin stream, comprising passing the contaminated olefin stream through a first adsorbent in a thermal swing adsorption process to produce a relatively pure olefin product stream, and a regenerating gas stream containing the contaminants, passing the contaminated regenerating gas stream through a pressure swing adsorption process to yield a relatively pure regenerating gas stream, which can be redirected to the thermal swing adsorption process for regenerating the adsorbent therein.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A process for removing contaminants from an olefin stream, the process comprising:
directing an olefin stream at an elevated pressure into contact with a particulate adsorbent bed configured to remove contaminants from the olefin stream and produce a product olefin stream containing less contaminants than the olefin stream feed; and
reducing the pressure of the particulate adsorbent bed to desorb the contaminates removed from the olefin stream feed and produce a low pressure waste stream containing the contaminates;
wherein:
the contaminates comprise organic oxygenates, inorganic or organic sulfur compounds, CO 2 , or a mixture thereof; and
the ratio of adsorption pressure to desorption pressure in the particulate adsorption bed is at least 2.0.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the olefin stream comprises ethylene, propylene, butylene, or a mixture thereof.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the olefin stream comprises at least about 50 wt. % olefin.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein the contaminates comprise organic oxygenates.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein the contaminates comprise inorganic or organic sulfur compounds.

6. The process of claim 1 , wherein the particulate adsorbent bed comprises an alumina, a zeolite, a composite of alumina-zeolite, or alumina, zeolite, or composite of alumina-zeolite doped with an oxide of alkali or alkaline-earth metals.

7. The process of claim 6 , wherein the particulate adsorbent bed comprises zeolite 3A, zeolite 4A, zeolite 5A, zeolite 13X, zeolite X, zeolite Y, zeolite A, a mixture of zeolite 3A and alumina, a mixture of zeolite 4A and alumina, a mixture of zeolite 5A and alumina, a mixture of zeolite 13X and alumina, a mixture of zeolite X and alumina, a mixture of zeolite Y and alumina, a mixture of zeolite A and alumina, or a combination of any two or more thereof.

8. The process of claim 6 , wherein the particulate adsorbent bed comprises alumina.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein the olefin stream is a gas.

10. The process of claim 1 , wherein the contaminants comprise up to 500 ppm of the olefin stream.

11. The process of claim 1 , wherein the olefin stream is pressurized to a pressure of at least 50 psia prior to contact with the particulate adsorbent bed.

12. The process of claim 11 , wherein the olefin stream is pressurized to a pressure of 50 to 500 psia prior to contact with the particulate adsorbent bed.

13. The process of claim 12 , wherein the olefin stream is pressurized to a pressure of 50 to 250 psia prior to contact with the particulate adsorbent bed.

14. The process of claim 13 , wherein the olefin stream is pressurized to a pressure of 50 to 150 psia prior to contact with the particulate adsorbent bed.

15. The process of claim 1 , wherein the olefin stream is at a temperature of about 25 to 270° C. prior to contact with the particulate adsorbent bed.

16. The process of claim 15 , wherein the olefin stream is at a temperature of about 25 to 200° C. prior to contact with the particulate adsorbent bed.

17. The process of claim 16 , wherein the olefin stream is at a temperature of about 50 to 150° C. prior to contact with the particulate adsorbent bed.

18. The process of claim 1 , wherein the contaminates are desorbed from the particulate adsorbent bed at a pressure of 5 to 30 psia.

19. The process of claim 18 , wherein the contaminates are desorbed from the particulate adsorbent bed at a pressure of 15 to 25 psia.

20. The process of claim 1 , wherein the ratio of adsorption pressure to desorption pressure in the particulate adsorption bed ranges from 2.0 to 10.0.

Assignees

• Basf Corp

Inventors

• Dolan William

Classifications

• B01D53/047

  Pressure swing adsorption · CPC title

• B01D2253/104

  Alumina · CPC title

• B01D2257/70

  Organic compounds not provided for in groups B01D2257/00 - B01D2257/602 · CPC title

• B01D2259/4009

  using hot gas · CPC title

• B01D53/0423

  Beds in columns · CPC title