US1421640A - Process of producing ethylene - Google Patents

Description

M. C. WHITAKER AND A. A. BACKHAUS. PROCESS 0F PRODUCING ETHYLENE. APPLICATION man JuLY11,19199 1,42 1,640. Patented July 4, 1922.l

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UNHED STATES maar carica.

MILTON C. WHITAKER, OF NEWYORK, Y., AND ARTHUR A. BACKHAUS, 0F BALTI- MORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNORS T0 U. S. INDUSTRIAL ALCOHOL CO., A CORPORA- TION 0F WEST VIRGINIA.

Paocnss or PnonUcING ETHYLENE.

Application led July 11,

State of New York, and ARTHUR A. BACK HAUS, a citizen of the United State's, resid-YV ing at Baltimore andState of Maryland, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Processes of Producing lEthylene, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates particularly to a method of making ethylene by the use of a catalytic agent.

The object of our invention is to provide a process by means,` of which ethylene may be made catalytically and in an expeditious and economical manner.

Another object of our invention is to provide an advantageous rocess of making ethylene from ethyl alcolhol A further object of our invention is to provide a process by means of which ethylene may be produced from ethyl alcohol in such a way as to obtain the maximum 'yield with the utilization of a minimum amount of heat.-

Again another object of our invention, is to carry out the process in such a manner as to completely separate the ethylene from the unchanged alcohol.

Still another object is to preheat the alcohol, so as to avoid the presence of li uid" alcohol in the chamber where the cata yst is located, in order to avoid loss of the catalyst by the formation of ethyl esters of phosphoric acid.

Further objects of our invention will appear from the detailed description thereof contained hereinafter.

While our invention 'is capable of embodi-y ment in many different forms, for the purpose of illustration we shall describe only one way of carrying out our process hereinafter, and while it is capable of being carried out in connection with many different types of apparatus, we have shown only one type of apparatus for use in connection therewith in the accompanying drawing, in which:

The figure is a diagrammatic elevation of an apparatus made in accordance with our invention.

In the drawings, we have shown a pipe 1 adapted to conduct hot gases, which may be Specication of Letters Patent.

a`V quantity of comminu'tedzcoke or Patented July 4, 1922. i919.l serial Nq. 310,123.

heated gases derived from any source, as forexample from an oven or furnace, said heated gases being conducted by the pipe 1 to a furnace orreaction chamber 2having removable top and bottom plates-3 and 4. The furnace 2 is provided with 'a plurality of vertical tubes 5 supported byk vtwo transversey perforated plates 6 and y7 and .carrying within the tubes a catalyst adapted to form ethylene from alcoh0l. The ethylene-forming catalytic material maybe comprised of umice stonecarrying vphosphoric acid sP04), or finstead, if desired, carrying finely divided aluminum oxide or kaolin. Preferably the tubes are lled with comminuted coke and the phosphoric acid is then poured into the tubes so as to be absorbed by the' comminuted material in the tubes, although it may be made in any other desired manner. The hot ases after passing around the tubes 5, leave t e furnace 2 by a pipe 8, and thence pass into anddownwardly within an alcohol preheater 9 through a plurality of tubes 10 therein, supported by perforated plates 11 and 12, after which the hot gases are conveyed away by a stack 13. The alcohol is v fed to the apparatus from an alcohol supply tank 14 by means of a valved trapped p1pe 15 to the alcohol preheater 9, within the ascending alcohol 1s immediately converted into a vapor which passes from the reheater 9 by a pipe 16 to the lower end ofp the 'furnace 2. The alcohol vapors are conducted upwardly through the tubes 5 in the furnace 2, where the alcohol is converted to a very large extent into ethylene and water. The vapors of ethylene, alcohol and water leave the top of the furnace 2 by means of a pipe 17, andare conducted to a column heater 18 where they serve to heat a body of water to provide steam for a column 19, the excess water from which is allowed to continually ow away by a pipe 20"\connected tothe heater, and which leads to a discharge pipe 21 delivering into a funnel 22, whence the water may be conveyed away to any point of-disposal. (A pipe 23 equalizes the pressures in the pipe 20 and the heater 18. The

heater 18 is comprised of a plurality of tubesv. containedin the pans in said column becomes tubes 26 supported by perforated plates'27 and 27a therein, around whichv the vapors low. The condenser serves, the purpose of removing the major portion of the alcohol and water from the ethylene, so that the alcohol may be returned to the system while warm. From this Point, the vapors pass by collected and utilized in any desired manner.V

The alcohol and water containing a. very little ethylene are returned by pipes 31 and 32 from the condensers 28 and 25 respectively to the column 19. As the vapors -pass upwardly through the column 19, the liquid increasin l richer in alcohol, and from the top of sai column the alcohol is fed by a pipe 33 to the alcohol preheater 9. 'The gases and vapors which reach the top of the column 19 pass out of the same by a pipe 34, and thence into a hotcondenser 35 having a plurality of tubes 36 supported by perforated plates 37 and 38, from which point the A condensed alcohol is conveyed by a pipe 39 to the top of the column 19, so as to provide liquidv for sealing the pans in said column.

-From the hot condenser 35 the gases and vapors passing out of the same are conducted by a pipe 40 to a cold condenser 41 havin a plurality of tubes 42 supported by per orated p ates 43 and 44,while the residual gases and vapors vnot condensed -therein are conveyed away by a pipe 45 to the pipe 27". The condensate vfrom the condenser 41 is conveyed b a pipe 46 tothe pipe 39, and

thence toit e top of the column 19. The

condensers 28 and'25, and 41 and 35, may

' maintained at thedesired temperatures 1n any suitable manner. For example, the

condensers-28 and 25 may be cooled by a cur-v rent of water passin through pipes 47, 48 and 49, and 'the-con ensers 41 .and 354 may be cooled by a current of cold waterpassing 'through pipes 50,v 51 and 52.

In carrying out our invention by the means above described, alcohol is supplied from the A tank, 14 through the preheater 9 maintained at a temperature of from 300 to 500 C., and vto the furnace 2 which is also maintained at a temperature of from 300 to 700 C. where the alcohol vapors formed in the preheater 9 are changed 1n part to ethylene and water by contact with the phosphoric acid or other catalyst present in the furnace 2. From this point the vapors of ethylene, alcohol and water pass to the column heater 18 where they serve to'provide steam for. the alcohol concentrating column 19.- The ethylene, alcohol and water vaporspass from the col.

umn heater 18 to the hot and cold condensers 25 and 28, whence the condensed alcohol and water containing a little ethyl ene is conveyed back to the column 19, While the eluent ethylene passesout of the condenser 28 in the form of a` gas, and may be collected and used in 'any desired manner. The concentrated alcohol produced in the column 19 is fed therefrom to the preheater 9. Alcohol to fill the pans of the column 19 is supplied to the column by pipes 39 and 46 leading from the condensers 35 and 41 through which the vapors from the top'of the column 1-9 pass, and from which condensers any quantity of ethylene present is conveyed awayto the condenser 28 where any remaining percentage of alcohol and water is removed from the ethylene, and the ethylene becomes added to the main body thereof, so that all of the ethylene is thus recovered at the outlet end of the condenser 28 separated from the alcohol and water.

In this manner the ethylene is recovered after the alcohol and waterhave been entirely separated therefrom, while .at the same time the heat of the various compounds present is utilized throughout the operation of the apparatus, andl in such a manner that the apparatus may be operated continuously. Furthermore, the catalyst is utilized to the best advantageas the formation of ethyl compounds thereof is avoided.

While we have described our invention abovein detail, we wish it to beunderstood that many changes may be made therein without departing. from the spirit thereof.

We claim- 1. The process of manufacturing ethylene n from1 alcohol comprising preheating the alcohol to a temperature of Afrom 300 to 500 C., and passing the resulting vapors of alcohol through a catalyzer maintained. at a similar temperature in orderto form ethylene. Y Y

2. The rocess of manufacturing ethylene from alcoliol comprising preheating the alcohol to a temperature of from 300 to 500 C., passing therresulting vapors through a catalyzer maintained at a similar r`temperaturein order to'form ethylene, condensing out the water and alcohol from the resulting ethylene vapors, conducting the condensed alcohol to a column still to be rectilied, and returning the rectied alcohol to the preheater. A

3. The process of manufacturing ethylene from alcohol comprising preheating alcohol to a temperature of from 300 to 500 C., and passing the resulting vapors through a phosphoric acid catalyzer maintained at a similar temperature in order to form ethylene.

-4. The process of manufacturing ethylene from alcohol comprising preheating alcohol to a temperature of from 300 to 500 C., passing the resulting vapors "through a catai lyzer maintained at a similar temperature in order to form ethylene, condensing out the water and alcohol from vthe resulting ethylene vapors, conducting the `condensed alcohl into a column still to be rectified, removing the rectified alcohol from a point above the point of introduction of the con-

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