Separation of aromatic and aliphatic hyddrocarbons with ionic liquids: A conceptual process design

G.W. Meindersma, A.B. Haan, de

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterAcademic

    11 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Presently, there are no processes available to separate low concentration (<20%) aromatic hydrocarbons from mixed aromatic aliphatic hydrocarbon streams, such as a feed stream to naphtha crackers, which may contain 10 to 25% of aromatic components, depending on the source of the feed (naphtha or gas condensate). Present practice is removal of the aromatic hydrocarbons from the C5+-stream in the naphtha cracker by extractive or azeotropic distillation. If a major part of the aromatic compounds present in the feed to the crackers could be separated upstream of the furnaces, it would offer several advantages: higher capacity, higher thermal efficiency and less fouling. The improved margin will be around €20/ton of feed or €48 million per year for a naphtha cracker with a feed capacity of 300 ton h-1, due to lower operational costs. Extraction with sulfolane will result in a negative margin of M€10 per year. Therefore, a conceptual process for the extraction of aromatic hydrocarbons with the ionic liquid 1-butyl-4-methylpyridinium tetrafluoroborate was developed using ASPEN. The investment costs are estimated at M€56 and the annual costs about M€28 per year, resulting in a positive margin of about M€20 per year.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationIonic liquids: From knowledge to application
    EditorsN.V. Pechkova, R.D. Rogers, K.R. Seddon
    Place of PublicationWashington DC
    PublisherAmerican Chemical Society
    Pages255-272
    ISBN (Print)978-0-8412-6997-2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2010

    Publication series

    NameACS Symposium Series
    Volume1030
    ISSN (Print)0097-6156

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