US 11,834,405 B2
Hexane as a by-product of isomerization unit using a dividing wall column
Manish Bhargava, Katy, TX (US); Roomi Kalita, Houston, TX (US); Amit Kanda, Katy, TX (US); Pamaraju V Ravitej, Mumbai (IN); and Kondapalli Shreya Chaudhary, Mumbai (IN)
Assigned to BHARAT PETROLEUM CORPORATION LIMITED, Mumbai (IN); and SULZER MANAGEMENT AG, Winterthur (CH)
Appl. No. 17/609,521
Filed by Sulzer Management AG, Winterthur (CH); and BHARAT PETROLEUM CORPORATION LIMITED, Mumbai (IN)
PCT Filed May 14, 2020, PCT No. PCT/IB2020/000379
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Nov. 8, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/229892, PCT Pub. Date Nov. 19, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/848,217, filed on May 15, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0227688 A1, Jul. 21, 2022
Int. Cl. C07C 7/04 (2006.01); C07C 7/163 (2006.01); C07C 7/00 (2006.01); B01D 3/14 (2006.01); B01J 19/00 (2006.01)
CPC C07C 7/005 (2013.01) [B01D 3/141 (2013.01); B01D 3/143 (2013.01); B01J 19/0013 (2013.01); C07C 7/04 (2013.01); C07C 7/163 (2013.01); B01J 2219/00054 (2013.01)] 3 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of producing, as a by-product from a C5-C6-isomerization unit, hexane having a benzene content of <3 ppm wt., a sulfur content of <0.5 ppm wt. and an n-hexane content of >40 wt %, the method comprising:
producing a stable isomerate feed in the C5-C6-isomerization unit,
feeding the stable isomerate feed to a first side of a dividing wall column, the dividing wall column comprising a dividing wall that divides the dividing wall column at least partially into the first side and a second side, with one side of the first side and the second side configured to operate as a deisohexanizer column and the other side of the first side and the second side configured to operate as a hexane column to produce the hexane;
producing a hexane feed from the second side of the dividing wall column;
feeding the hexane feed and hydrogen to a mixer of a benzene hydrogenation unit connected with the dividing wall column to form a hexane-hydrogen mixture;
preheating the hexane-hydrogen mixture;
feeding the preheated hexane-hydrogen mixture to a polishing reactor of the benzene hydrogenation unit, wherein the polishing reactor hydrogenates at least a part of benzene included in the hexane-hydrogen mixture; and
feeding an output stream from the polishing reactor to a stripper column for separating light components from hexane to form the hexane having the benzene content of <3 ppm wt., the sulfur content of <0.5 ppm wt. and the n-hexane content of >40 wt %, wherein the stripper column is arranged downstream of the polishing reactor.