CPC C07C 2/865 (2013.01) [B01J 8/02 (2013.01); B01J 29/7038 (2013.01); C07C 2/864 (2013.01); C07C 2529/70 (2013.01)] | 26 Claims |
1. A process for converting benzene and/or toluene, the process comprising:
(a) feeding an aromatic hydrocarbon feed and a methylating agent feed into a methylation reactor, wherein the aromatic hydrocarbon feed comprises benzene and/or toluene, and the methylating agent feed comprises methanol and/or dimethyl ether;
(b) contacting the aromatic hydrocarbon feed with the methylating agent feed in the presence of a methylation catalyst in the methylation reactor under methylation reaction conditions effective to produce a methylation product mixture effluent exiting the methylation reactor, wherein the methylation catalyst comprises a zeolite of the MWW framework type, and the methylation product mixture effluent comprises toluene, p-xylene, methanol, and dimethyl ether;
(c) Obtaining a dimethyl ether-rich stream from at least a portion of the methylation product mixture effluent, wherein (c) comprises:
(c1) separating the methylation product mixture effluent to obtain an aqueous phase and an oil phase; and
(c2) separating the oil phase to obtain the dimethyl ether-rich stream of (c) and an aromatics-rich stream comprising p-xylene and toluene; and
(d) recycling at least a portion of the dimethyl ether-rich stream Obtained in (c) to (a) as at least a portion of the methylating agent feed.
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