SYNTHESIS REACTION SYSTEM FOR HYDROCARBON COMPOUND, AND METHOD OF REMOVING POWDERED CATALYST PARTICLES

• US 20110044859A1
• Filed: 03/12/2009
• Published: 02/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cosmo Oil Company Limited (Cosmo Energy Holdings Co., Ltd.), JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation (ENEOS Holdings, Inc.), Inpex Corporation, Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, Japan Petroleum Exploration Company Limited, Nippon Steel Engineering Company Limited (Nippon Steel Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Cosmo Oil Company Limited (Cosmo Energy Holdings Co., Ltd.), JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation (ENEOS Holdings, Inc.), Inpex Corporation, Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, Japan Petroleum Exploration Company Limited, Nippon Steel Engineering Company Limited (Nippon Steel Corporation)
• Inventors: Kato, Yuzuru, Yamada, Eiichi, Onishi, Yasuhiro, Murata, Atsushi
• Granted Patent: US 9,162,170 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 422/187
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 2239/0668 The layers being joined by heat or melt-bonding
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 39/10 Filter screens essentially made of metal
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 2219/00006 Large-scale industrial plants
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 8/00 Chemical or physical processes in general, conducted in the presence of fluids and solid particles; Apparatus for such processes
• CPC Class Codes: C10G 2/32 with the use of catalysts
• CPC Class Codes: C10G 2/342 with moving solid catalysts

Abstract

A synthesis reaction system is provided with: a reactor which synthesizes a hydrocarbon compound by a chemical reaction of a synthesis gas including hydrogen and carbon monoxide as main components, and a slurry having solid catalyst particles suspended in liquid; a separator which separates the hydrocarbon compound from the slurry; and a filtering device which filters the hydrocarbon compound extracted from the separator to trap powdered catalyst particles.

Claims

1. A synthesis reaction system for hydrocarbon compound, comprising:

a reactor which synthesizes a hydrocarbon compound by a chemical reaction of a synthesis gas including hydrogen and carbon monoxide as main components, and a slurry having solid catalyst particles suspended in liquid;

a separator which separates the hydrocarbon compound from the slurry; and

a filtering device which filters the hydrocarbon compound extracted from the separator to trap powdered catalyst particles.

2. The synthesis reaction system for hydrocarbon compound according to claim 1, wherein

a plurality of the filtering devices are provided, and

the separator and each of the filtering devices are individually connected together by a supply pipeline which supplies the hydrocarbon compound to each filtering device from the separator.

3. The synthesis reaction system for hydrocarbon compound according to claim 2, wherein

each branch portion of the supply pipeline is provided with a valve which opens and closes the branch portion to individually switch supply of the hydrocarbon compound to each filtering device.

4. The synthesis reaction system for hydrocarbon compound according to claim 3, wherein

each branch portion of the supply pipeline is opened and closed by the valve such that one filtering device filters the hydrocarbon compound, and the other filtering devices do not filter the hydrocarbon compound.

5. The synthesis reaction system for hydrocarbon compound according to claim 1, further comprising a differential pressure gauge which measures the differential pressure between the upstream and downstream of the filtering device while the hydrocarbon compound has been filtered by the filtering device.

6. The synthesis reaction system for hydrocarbon compound according to claim 1, wherein

the filtering device includes a filtering vessel connected to the supply pipeline, and a filter arranged within the filtering vessel to filter the hydrocarbon compound, and

a discharge pipeline which discharges the filtered hydrocarbon compound to the outside of the filtering vessel is connected to the filter.

7. The synthesis reaction system for hydrocarbon compound according to claim 6, wherein

the filtering device includes a cleaning device which removes the powdered catalyst particles adhered to the filter.

8. The synthesis reaction system for hydrocarbon compound according to claim 7, wherein

the cleaning device includes a cleaning fluid supply section which is connected to the discharge pipeline, and supplies a. cleaning fluid to the filter via the discharge pipeline.

9. The synthesis reaction system for hydrocarbon compound according to claim 8, wherein the cleaning fluid is an inert gas.

10. The synthesis reaction system for hydrocarbon compound according to claim 6, wherein

the filter is a sintered metal mesh filter obtained by overlapping and sintering a plurality of metal meshes, and

the diameter of holes formed in the sintered metal mesh filter is a mean particle diameter or less of the powdered catalyst particles.

11. The synthesis reaction system for hydrocarbon compound according to claim 6,

wherein the filter is a sintered metal mesh filter obtained by overlapping and sintering a plurality of metal meshes, and

the diameter of holes formed in the sintered metal mesh filter is greater than 0 μ

m and equal to or less than 10 μ

m.

12. A powdered catalyst particles removing method performed after extracting a hydrocarbon compound form a slurry, the hydrocarbon compound being synthesized by a chemical reaction of a synthesis gas including hydrogen and carbon monoxide as main components, and the slurry having solid catalyst particles suspended in liquid, the removing method comprising:

a filtering step of making the hydrocarbon compound pass through a filter of a filtering device in a predetermined direction to trap powdered catalyst particles, and

a cleaning step of making a cleaning fluid pass through the filter in a direction opposite to the predetermined direction to remove the powdered catalyst particles from the filter.

13. The method of removing powdered particles according to claim 12, wherein

a plurality of the filters are arranged in parallel for the hydrocarbon compound made to pass through the filter, and wherein

when the filtering step is performed in one filter, the cleaning step is simultaneously performed on the other filter, and

when the filtering step is performed in the other filter, the cleaning step is simultaneously performed on one filter.

14. The method of removing powdered catalyst particles according to claim 12, wherein

the differential pressure between the pressure of the hydrocarbon compound before flowing into the filter which carries out the filtering step and the pressure of the hydrocarbon compound which has been filtered and discharged from the filter is measured, and

when a measurement result of the differential pressure becomes a predetermined threshold value or more, a step to be carried out in the filter is switched to the cleaning step from the filtering step.

15. The method of removing powdered catalyst particles according to claim 14, wherein the threshold value is greater than 0 kPa and equal to or less than 150 kPa.