US 12,264,116 B2
Method and system embodiments for converting ethanol to para-xylene and ortho-xylene
Karthikeyan K. Ramasamy, West Richland, WA (US); Mond Guo, Richland, WA (US); Richard Russell Rosin, Glencoe, IL (US); and Joseph Anthony Kocal, Glenview, IL (US)
Assigned to Battelle Memorial Institute, Richland, WA (US); and Lanza Tech, Inc., Skokie, IL (US)
Filed by Battelle Memorial Institute, Richland, WA (US); and LanzaTech, Inc., Skokie, IL (US)
Filed on Jun. 2, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/205,439.
Application 17/713,686 is a division of application No. 17/387,725, filed on Jul. 28, 2021, granted, now 11,325,873, issued on May 10, 2022.
Application 18/205,439 is a continuation in part of application No. 17/713,686, filed on Apr. 5, 2022, granted, now 11,851,384.
Prior Publication US 2023/0312432 A1, Oct. 5, 2023
Int. Cl. C07C 1/20 (2006.01); C07C 1/207 (2006.01); C07C 7/04 (2006.01); C07C 45/68 (2006.01)
CPC C07C 1/2076 (2013.01) [C07C 7/04 (2013.01); C07C 45/68 (2013.01); C07C 2521/04 (2013.01); C07C 2521/06 (2013.01); C07C 2521/18 (2013.01); C07C 2523/44 (2013.01); C07C 2523/656 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method, comprising:
providing a stream comprising ethanol by subjecting at least one article to gasification to produce syngas and converting the syngas by gas fermentation to generate the stream comprising ethanol;
contacting the feed stream comprising ethanol with an oxidation catalyst under oxidation conditions to form an oxidation zone effluent stream comprising acetaldehyde;
passing the oxidation zone effluent stream to a dimerization zone and contacting the oxidation zone effluent stream with a dimerization catalyst under dimerization conditions to produce a dimerization zone effluent stream comprising 2-butenal;
passing the dimerization zone effluent stream to a cyclization zone and contacting the dimerization zone effluent stream with a cyclization catalyst under cyclization conditions to form a cyclization zone effluent stream comprising o-methylbenzaldehyde and/or p-methylbenzaldehyde;
passing the cyclization zone effluent stream to a hydrogenation zone and contacting the cyclization zone effluent stream with a hydrogenation catalyst comprising a first Group VIII metal deposited on a support material to produce a hydrogenation zone effluent comprising a non-equilibrium mixture of o-xylene, p-xylene, and m-xylene;
passing at least a portion of the p-xylene from the non-equilibrium mixture to a first reaction zone under first reaction conditions to produce a stream comprising terephthalic acid;
passing the stream comprising terephthalic acid to a second reaction zone under second reaction conditions to produce a stream comprising polyethylene terephthalate;
using the polyethylene terephthalate from the stream comprising polyethylene terephthalate to generate a new article.