HEAVY AROMATICS PROCESSING

摘要

In a process for converting C9+ aromatic hydrocarbons to lighter aromatic products, a C8+ aromatic hydrocarbon feed is passed through a xylenes fractionation column to separate the feed into a C8 rich vapor overhead fraction and a C10+ rich liquid bottoms fraction. In addition, a vapor side-stream is removed from adjacent the bottom of the xylenes fractionation column and at least part of the vapor side-stream is passed through a condenser to condense a heavy liquid stream rich in C10 and higher aromatics and leave a lighter vapor stream rich in C9 and C10 aromatics. The lighter vapor stream rich in C9 and C10 aromatics is then contacted with toluene or benzene in the presence of a trans alky lation catalyst system under transalkylation reaction conditions to produce a transalkylation reaction product comprising (i) benzene or toluene and (ii) xylene.