Selective hydrogenation of styrene to ethylbenzene

This application is a divisional of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/165,255, filed Jan. 27, 2014, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/761,402, filed Feb. 6, 2013, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety.

The invention relates to the selective hydrogenation of styrene to ethylbenzene and more particularly to the removal of small quantities of styrene present in the product stream of a method of making paraxylene selectively by the alkylation of aromatic species with an alkylating agent over a solid catalyst.

It is well-known to manufacture xylenes by the alkylation of toluene and/or benzene with methanol, and in particular to selectively make paraxylene (PX) product using zeolite catalyst. See, for instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,002,698; 4,356,338; 4,423,266; 5,675,047; 5,804,690; 5,939,597; 6,028,238; 6,046,372; 6,048,816; 6,156,949; 6,423,879; 6,504,072; 6,506,954; 6,538,167; and 6,642,426. See also more recently U.S. application Ser. No. 13/557,605, and references cited therein. Paraxylene selectivity is highly sought after because of the economic importance of paraxylene relative to meta- and orthoxylene. Although each of the xylene isomers have important and well-known end uses, paraxylene is currently the most economically valuable, serving as an intermediate in such important and diverse end uses as bottle plastic and polyester fibers.

One of the problems with xylenes streams produced by alkylating aromatic species such as benzene and/or toluene with alkylating agents such as methanol and/or dimethyl ether over solid catalysts, such as in the aforementioned processes, is the product stream may contain styrene impurities. This has recently been observed and set forth in Provisional Patent Applications 61/711,341 and 61/681,486. Styrene impurities can cause operability problems for downstream process, for example paraxylene recovery by adsorptive separation processes, e.g., Parex™ Process or Eluxyl™ Process, as well as other processes used to take paraxylene to end products, such as in processes used to make purified terephthalic acid/anhydride and subsequent steps to making fibers or bottle plastic therefrom.

One method of removing styrene is to convert said species to ethylbenzene by selective hydrogenation. Several characteristics of purifying xylenes containing styrene impurities make selective hydrogenation of styrene challenging. It is highly desirable to minimize the ring saturation reactions since separation of dimethylcyclohexane, ethylcyclohexane, and/or other saturated C8 hydrocarbons from xylenes is difficult. Another potential challenge is that the desired product, paraxylene, is present at higher-than-equilibrium concentration. The catalyst used to hydrogenate styrene must therefore show minimal xylenes isomerization activity.

It is known to hydrogenate certain aromatic species in paraxylene enriched streams. See, for instance, U.S. application Ser. Nos. 61/604,926, 61/496,262, 13/303,855, and 13/449,758.

The present inventors have surprisingly discovered a method of selectively hydrogenating styrene impurities present in a xylenes stream nearly stoichiometrically using a catalyst comprising at least one metal selected Groups 8-10 of the Periodic Table, optionally further comprising promoters and/or supports.

The invention is directed to a method of hydrogenating styrene impurities present in a xylenes stream using a catalyst comprising M, wherein M is selected from Group 8-10 metals, preferably Pd, Co, Ni, Ru, and mixtures thereof.

In embodiments, promoters such as Ag, Au, In, K and other alkali metals, Ca and other alkaline earth metals, and mixtures thereof, can be present.

In embodiments, a support such as Al 2 O 3 , carbon, SiO 2 , TiO 2 , and mixtures thereof, may be present.

It is an object of the invention to eliminate styrene from paraxylene-containing feedstreams prior to processes that would have operability problems with even small quantities of styrene, e.g., catalytic processes, absorption processes, and the like, that are sensitive to the presence of vinyl moiety, while having little or no effect, e.g., ring saturation and/or isomerization, on paraxylene itself.

These and other objects, features, and advantages will become apparent as reference is made to the following detailed description, preferred embodiments, examples, and appended claims.

According to the invention, a feedstream comprising paraxylene and styrene is contacted in the presence of hydrogen with a catalyst comprising one or more metals selected from Groups 8-10 of the Periodic Table, preferably Pd, Co, Ni, Ru, and mixtures thereof.

In embodiments, promoters such as Ag, Au, In, K and other alkali metals (Group 1 metals), Ca and other alkaline earth metals (Group 2 metals), and mixtures thereof, can be present.

In embodiments, a support such as carbon, alumina (Al 2 O 3 ), silica (SiO 2 ), titania (TiO 2 ) and mixtures thereof, may be present.

In preferred embodiments the amount of paraxylene in the feedstream from the alkylation reaction is enriched from equilibrium concentration, i.e., greater than about 24 wt %, and in preferred embodiments is in the amount of from 70 wt % to 98 wt %, or 75 wt % to 92 wt %, or 80 wt % to 89 wt %.

In embodiments the amount of styrene in the feedsteam from the alkylation reactor is in the range of from 0.01 wt % to 2.00 wt %, or 0.05 wt % to 1.00 wt %, or 0.08 wt % to 0.50 wt %.

In preferred embodiments, less than 0.2 wt % of the para-xylene is isomerized in the step of contacting one or more metals selected from Groups 8-10.

In preferred embodiments, there is no detectable ethylcyclohexane or dimethylcyclohexane in the product (based on gas chromatographic analysis) in the step of contacting one or more metals selected from Groups 8-10.

The preferred catalyst for the alkylation reaction comprises ZSM-5, which has been severely steamed at a temperature of at least 950° C. in the presence of at least one oxide modifier, preferably including phosphorus, to control reduction of the micropore volume of the material during the steaming step. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,423,879 and 6,504,072. The preferred alkylating agent is methanol or dimethyl ether and the preferred aromatic species alkylated is benzene and/or toluene.

The invention will be better understood by reference to the following example, which will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to be representative and not limiting thereof.

To illustrate the effectiveness of Pd catalysts in hydrogenation of styrene by-product found in xylene product stream from an alkylation reactor such as a fluid bed reactor having staged baffles, such as described in U.S. application Ser. No. 13/557,605, and such as according to the process described in U.S. Provisional Application 61/681,486, a run was made with Axens™ LD269 catalyst and a feed consisted of 0.10% styrene, 0.62% ethylbenzene, 78.72% para-xylene, 14.66% meta-xylene, and 5.58% ortho-xylene. Axens™ LD269 is a commercially available catalyst used for butene hydrogenation. It is a Pd/Al 2 0 3 catalyst based on the information available in the public domain. The test was carried out in a down flow micro-lab unit at 100° C., 165 psig, 5 hr −1 WHSV, and 1/1 H 2 /HC molar ratio. Key results from the test are summarized in the table below.

As can be seen from the table, Axens™ LD 269 catalyst is very effective in hydrogenating styrene present in the mixed xylene feed to ethylbenzene. No measurable styrene was found in the product by gas chromatography, equipped with wax column. The detection limit of the GC is 5 ppm. This suggests that conversion was nearly 100% if not 100% at 100° C., 165 psig, and 5 hr −1 WHSV. Selectivity was also nearly 100% if not 100% since all the styrene which was converted can be accounted by for the increase in ethylbenzene. No ethylcyclohexane or dimethylcyclohexane was detected in the product. The detection limit of the GC for measuring ethylbenzene, ethylcyclohexane and dimethylcyclohexane was also 5 ppm.

In addition to being highly active and selective in hydrogenation of styrene to ethylbenzene, Pd/Al 2 0 3 catalysts such as Axens™ LD269 were also found to have minimal activity in isomerization of para-xylene to ortho-xylene or para-xylene. As can be seen from the table, only ˜0.1 wt % para-xylene was isomerized to either ortho-xylene or meta-xylene (based on the total amount of para-xylene). The relatively complete conversion of styrene and lack of typical isomerization products by contact of a mixed xylene feed was highly surprising.

The invention has been described above with specificity however it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure that the invention may be practiced other than as specifically set forth herein, such as in fixed bed reactors, moving bed reactors, and the like.

All patents and patent applications, test procedures (such as ASTM methods, UL methods, and the like), and other documents cited herein are fully incorporated by reference to the extent such disclosure is not inconsistent with this invention and for all jurisdictions in which such incorporation is permitted. Trade names used herein are indicated by a ™ symbol or ® symbol, indicating that the names may be protected by certain trademark rights, e.g., they may be registered trademarks in various jurisdictions. When numerical lower limits and numerical upper limits are listed herein, ranges from any lower limit to any upper limit are contemplated.