Production system/production process for acrylic acid and precursors thereof
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A process for producing acrylic acid from a source of β
- -propiolactone, the process comprising;
contacting a β
-propiolactone feed stream with a polymerization initiator in a polypropiolactone reaction zone having at least one polymerization reactor to produce a polypropiolactone outlet stream comprising polypropiolactone and β
-propiolactone, wherein the at least one polymerization reactor is at least one of a continuous reactor or a semi-batch reactor; and
passing at least a portion of the polypropiolactone outlet stream to an acrylic acid production zone comprising a thermolysis reactor that receives the at least a portion of the polypropiolactone outlet stream to produce an acrylic acid stream comprising acrylic acid.
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Abstract
Provided herein are systems, and methods of using such systems, for producing acrylic acid from ethylene oxide and carbon monoxide on an industrial scale. The production system/production process has various unit operations, including, for example, a β-propiolactone production system/production process configured to produce β-propiolactone from ethylene oxide and carbon monoxide; a polypropiolactone production system/production process configured to produce polypropiolactone from β-propiolactone; and a glacial acrylic acid production system/production process configured to produce acrylic acid with a high purity by thermolysis of polypropiolactone.
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Citations
49 Claims
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1. A process for producing acrylic acid from a source of β
- -propiolactone, the process comprising;
contacting a β
-propiolactone feed stream with a polymerization initiator in a polypropiolactone reaction zone having at least one polymerization reactor to produce a polypropiolactone outlet stream comprising polypropiolactone and β
-propiolactone, wherein the at least one polymerization reactor is at least one of a continuous reactor or a semi-batch reactor; andpassing at least a portion of the polypropiolactone outlet stream to an acrylic acid production zone comprising a thermolysis reactor that receives the at least a portion of the polypropiolactone outlet stream to produce an acrylic acid stream comprising acrylic acid. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
- -propiolactone, the process comprising;
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10. A process for producing acrylic acid from ethylene oxide and carbon monoxide, comprising:
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contacting input components comprising a carbon monoxide feed, an ethylene oxide feed, and a catalyst recycle stream with a carbonylation catalyst and a solvent in a carbonylation reaction zone and producing a β
-propiolactone outlet stream comprising β
-propiolactone, ethylene oxide and carbonylation catalyst;passing at least a portion of the β
-propiolactone outlet stream to a carbonylation catalyst recycling zone and separating said portion into i) a β
-propiolactone separation stream comprising a portion of the β
-propiolactone outlet stream from which at least some carbonylation catalyst has been removed and ii) the recycle stream, comprising β
-propiolactone, solvent, ethylene oxide, carbonylation catalyst, succinic anhydride, and acetaldehyde;passing at least a portion of the recycle stream to the carbonylation reaction zone; purifying at least a portion of the β
-propiolactone separation stream in a β
-propiolactone purification zone comprising at least one separator, wherein the β
-propiolactone purification zone produces a purified β
-propiolactone stream and rejects a portion of at least one of β
-propiolactone, solvent, ethylene oxide, carbonylation catalyst, succinic anhydride, and acetaldehyde in one or more rejection streams;passing at least a portion of the purified β
-propiolactone stream and a polymerization initiator to a polypropiolactone reaction zone having at least one polymerization reactor that produces a polypropiolactone outlet stream comprising polypropiolactone and β
-propiolactone; andpassing at least a portion of the polypropiolactone outlet stream to an acrylic acid production zone comprising a thermolysis reactor that receives the at least a portion of the polypropiolactone outlet stream and produces an acrylic acid stream comprising acrylic acid. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 47, 48, 49)
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23. A process for producing acrylic acid from ethylene oxide and carbon monoxide, comprising:
- contacting carbon monoxide feed, an ethylene oxide feed, a carbon monoxide overhead stream and a β
-propiolactone recycle stream with a carbonylation catalyst and a solvent in a carbonylation reaction zone and producing a β
-propiolactone outlet stream comprising β
-propiolactone, solvent, ethylene oxide, carbon monoxide, carbonylation catalyst, acetaldehyde, and succinic anhydride;passing at least a portion of the β
-propiolactone outlet stream to a carbon monoxide separator and recovering i.) the carbon monoxide separator overhead stream wherein the carbon monoxide separator overhead stream comprises ethylene oxide and carbon monoxide and ii.) a carbon monoxide separator bottoms stream comprising β
-propiolactone, solvent, carbonylation catalyst, acetaldehyde, succinic anhydride, and ethylene oxide;passing at least a portion of the carbon monoxide separator overhead stream to the carbonylation reaction zone; passing at least a portion the carbon monoxide separator bottoms stream to a membrane separation section of a carbonylation catalyst recycling zone and separating said at least a portion of the carbon monoxide separator bottoms stream into i) a β
-propiolactone recycle stream comprising a retentate containing separated carbonylation catalyst, solvent, and β
-propiolactone, and ii) a β
-propiolactone separation stream comprising a permeate containing β
-propiolactone, solvent, acetaldehyde, succinic anhydride, ethylene oxide and carbonylation catalyst;passing at least a portion of the β
-propiolactone recycle stream to the carbonylation reaction zone;passing at least a portion of the β
-propiolactone separation stream to a β
-propiolactone purification zone comprising at least one separation zone that separates the β
-propiolactone separation stream into a solvent recycle stream comprising solvent, and a purified β
-propiolactone stream comprising β
-propiolactone and carbonylation catalyst;passing at least a portion of the purified β
-propiolactone stream and a polymerization initiator to a polypropiolactone reaction zone having at least one polymerization reactor that contacts the at least a portion of the purified β
-propiolactone stream with the polymerization initiator and produces a polypropiolactone outlet stream comprising polypropiolactone and β
-propiolactone;passing at least a portion of the polypropiolactone outlet stream to a polypropiolactone/β
-propiolactone processing zone having at least one separation zone to produce i) a polypropiolactone/β
-propiolactone overhead stream that increases the concentration of β
-propiolactone relative to the polypropiolactone outlet stream, and ii) a polypropiolactone/β
-propiolactone separator bottoms stream that comprises polypropiolactone;passing at least a portion of the polypropiolactone/β
-propiolactone overhead stream to the polypropiolactone reaction zone;passing at least a portion of the polypropiolactone/β
-propiolactone bottoms stream to an acrylic acid production zone comprising a thermolysis reactor that receives the at least a portion of the a polypropiolactone outlet stream and produces an acrylic acid stream; and
separating at least a portion of the acrylic acid stream in a separator into (i) acrylic acid stream comprising acrylic acid having a purity of at least 90%, and (ii) an organic heavies stream. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
- contacting carbon monoxide feed, an ethylene oxide feed, a carbon monoxide overhead stream and a β
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34. A process for producing glacial acrylic acid from ethylene oxide and carbon monoxide, comprising:
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contacting carbon monoxide feed, an ethylene oxide feed, a carbon monoxide overhead stream and a β
-propiolactone recycle stream with a carbonylation catalyst and a solvent in a carbonylation reaction zone and producing a β
-propiolactone outlet stream comprising β
-propiolactone, solvent, ethylene oxide, carbon monoxide, carbonylation catalyst, acetaldehyde,and succinic anhydride; passing at least a portion of the β
-propiolactone outlet stream to a carbon monoxide separator and recovering i.) the carbon monoxide overhead stream wherein the carbon monoxide overhead stream comprises ethylene oxide and carbon monoxide and ii.) a carbon monoxide bottoms stream comprising β
-propiolactone, solvent, carbonylation catalyst, acetaldehyde, succinic anhydride, ethylene oxide and carbon monoxide;passing at least a portion of the carbon monoxide overhead stream to the carbonylation reaction zone; passing at least a portion the carbon monoxide bottoms stream to a membrane separation section of a carbonylation catalyst recycling zone and separating said at least a portion of the carbon monoxide bottoms stream into i) a β
-propiolactone recycle stream comprising a retentate containing separated carbonylation catalyst, solvent and β
-propiolactone and ii) a β
-propiolactone separation stream comprising a permeate containing β
-propiolactone, solvent,acetaldehyde, succinic anhydride, ethylene oxide, carbon monoxide, and carbonylation catalyst; passing at least a portion of the β
-propiolactone recycle stream to the carbonylation reaction zone;purifying the β
-propiolactone separation stream in a β
-propiolactone purification zone comprising at least one distillation column that further separates the β
-propiolactone separation stream into a solvent recycle stream comprising solvent and a purified β
-propiolactone stream comprising β
-propiolactone;passing at least a portion of the purified β
-propiolactone stream and a polymerization initiator to a polypropiolactone reaction zone having at least one polymerization reactor that contacts the at least a portion of the purified β
-propiolactone stream with the polymerization initiator and produces a polypropiolactone outlet stream comprising polypropiolactone and β
-propiolactone;passing at least a portion of the polypropiolactone outlet stream to an acrylic acid production zone comprising a thermolysis reactor that receives the at least a portion of the polypropiolactone outlet stream and produces an acrylic acid stream; and separating at least a portion of the acrylic acid stream in a condenser into (i) an acrylic acid stream comprises acrylic acid having a purity of at least 90%, and (ii) an organic heavies stream. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38)
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Specification