Hydrocarbon recovery with pressure swing adsorption

摘要

A process for component separation in a polymer production system comprising: (a) separating a polymerization product into a gas stream and a polymer stream; (b) processing the gas stream in distillation columns to yield a light hydrocarbon stream (LHS) comprising ethylene and ethane; (c) contacting LHS with a purged hydrocarbon adsorber to yield a loaded hydrocarbon adsorber and a non-adsorbed gas stream, wherein ethane is adsorbed by the purged hydrocarbon adsorber at a first pressure to yield adsorbed ethane, and wherein the non-adsorbed gas stream comprises recovered ethylene; (d) contacting the loaded hydrocarbon adsorber with a sweeping gas stream at a second pressure to yield an unloaded hydrocarbon adsorber and a recovered adsorbed gas stream comprising the sweeping gas stream and desorbed ethane; and (e) contacting the unloaded hydrocarbon adsorber with the sweeping gas stream at the first pressure to yield the purged hydrocarbon adsorber and a spent sweeping gas.

主权项

1. A process for hydrocarbon recovery, the process comprising:
(a) providing a hydrocarbon stream comprising a first hydrocarbon and a second hydrocarbon, wherein the first hydrocarbon is a saturated hydrocarbon, and wherein the second hydrocarbon is an olefin; (b) contacting at least a portion of the hydrocarbon stream with a purged hydrocarbon adsorber to yield a loaded hydrocarbon adsorber and a non-adsorbed gas stream, wherein at least a portion of the first hydrocarbon is adsorbed by the purged hydrocarbon adsorber at a first pressure to yield adsorbed first hydrocarbon, and wherein the non-adsorbed gas stream comprises recovered second hydrocarbon, wherein the recovered second hydrocarbon comprises at least a portion of the second hydrocarbon of the hydrocarbon stream, wherein the hydrocarbon adsorber is characterized by an adsorption selectivity of the first hydrocarbon versus the second hydrocarbon as determined by volumetric adsorption at 298 K and at the first pressure of equal to or greater than about 2; (c) contacting at least a portion of the loaded hydrocarbon adsorber with a sweeping gas stream at a second pressure to yield an unloaded hydrocarbon adsorber and a recovered adsorbed gas stream, wherein the recovered adsorbed gas stream comprises at least a portion of the sweeping gas stream and at least a portion of desorbed first hydrocarbon, wherein the desorbed first hydrocarbon comprises at least a portion of the adsorbed first hydrocarbon, and wherein the first pressure is greater than the second pressure by equal to or greater than about 400 kPa; and (d) contacting at least a portion of the unloaded hydrocarbon adsorber with at least a portion of the sweeping gas stream at the first pressure to yield the purged hydrocarbon adsorber and a spent sweeping gas.