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Production
of secondary butyl alcohol via n-butene hydration
R
& D Background
Methylethyl
ketone (MEK) is an excellent organic solvent, which is
widely used in synthetic resin (cellulose nitrate, vinyl
resin, propenyl resin etc), rubber adhesive, magnetic
type, printing ink, lube dewaxing, and etc. Secondary
butyl alcohol is the only material for MEK production.
Moreover, in China, the production of secondary butyl
alcohol cannot meet the demand of market. The annual
import these years is over 100,000 tons.
FRIPP
started the process study for producing MEK through
n-butene direct hydration and subsequent dehydrogenation.
On the basis of the process study, DNM-type catalyst for
butane hydration and FDH-type catalyst for secondary vinyl
alcohol dehydrogenation have also been developed.
Features
The
hydration process uses low LHSV and high water/n-butene
ratio, which results in low n-butene recycling and low
energy cost.
High
yield for secondary vinyl alcohol and low organics content
in discharging water, which decrease pollution to the
environment.
Dehydrogenation
catalyst has long run length.
Comparison
between FRIPP¨s MEK technology and reference MEK
technology
|
Item |
FRIPP
technology |
Reference
technology |
|
Hydration
process |
|
|
|
Butene
concentration feedstock, % |
97 |
97 |
|
Operating
temperature, ≧ |
135-175 |
145-175 |
|
Operating
pressure, MPa |
6.0-7.0 |
6.0 |
|
LHSV,
h-1 |
1.0-1.3 |
1.5 |
|
Water/n-butene
molecular ratio |
1.60-2.05 |
1.0 |
|
Single
pass conversion of n-butene, mol% |
8.0-11.0 |
6.0 |
|
Total
conversion of n-butene, mol% |
90 |
80 |
|
Selectivity
of secondary vinyl alcohol to n-butene, mol% |
98 |
93 |
|
Butene
recycling ratio |
10.3 |
12.3 |
|
Catalyst
volume, M3 |
23.3 |
22 |
|
Dehydrogenation
process |
|
|
|
Operating
temperature, ≧ |
260 |
260 |
|
Operating
pressure, MPa |
0.1 |
0.2 |
|
LHSV,
h-1 |
3.6-4.0 |
4.0 |
|
Conversion
of secondary butyl alcohol, mol% |
86.7 |
>80 |
|
Selectivity
to MEK, mol% |
96.6 |
>95 |
|
Catalyst
life |
>3500
hrs |
6-8
weeks |
Summary
Isopropanol
(and its derivative acetone) and MEK are high value
chemical materials that demand large quantities of import.
As a high-octane gasoline blending component, secondary
vinyl alcohol has great market potential. Therefore,
hydration, being an efficient way for C3 and C4
utilization, will attract more and more attention in
petrochemical industry. Besides the above-mentioned
technologies, FRIPP has also developed the technology for
synthesizing diphenylamine and subsequent products from
aniline, technology for producing 1, 4-butanediol through
etherification and hydrogenation of maleic anhydride. All
these technologies, we are sure , will bring considerable
economic benefits to enterprises.
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