Intensification of Paraxylene Production using a Simulated Moving Bed Reactor

Abstract

Multifunctional reactors, which combine a reaction step and a separation step in one single unit, constitute an important advance in design of sustainable processes to save energy and reduce environmental impact. They allow reductions of recycle flows and size units in order to have more safety and less expansive processes. This paper deals with separation by adsorption and reaction coupled in a Simulated Moving Bed reactor (SMBR) for paraxylene (PX) production. In the current industrial process, the major part of the separation step comes from a recycle flow where the C 8 aromatics are isomerized. The SMBR, by decreasing this recycle stream, may reduce the energy needed to treat and convert the raffinate into a rich PX stream. As separation takes place in the liquid phase, the first part of this paper establishes the feasibility of liquid phase isomerization of xylene. Tests in a fixed bed reactor validate the use of a HZSM-5 zeolite catalyst. Paradiethylbenzene (paraDEB), the classical desorbent used in xylene separation, isomerizes into orthodiethylbenzene and metadiethylbenzene so it is replaced by toluene. Experimental data permit one to estimate the parameters used in a simple analytical model implemented in a classical True Moving Bed model. This TMBR model permits to find the various operating regimes of such a SMBR. The conditions found allow a 40% reduction of the recycle flow without any productivity loss. With this lower recycle flow, a reduction of investment and operating costs is expected on the global PX production process thanks to the SMBR process. © 2010, IFP Energies nouvelles.