USE OF CATALYTIC DISTILLATION TO REMOVE IMPURITIES FROM SOLVENTS BY HYDROGENATION

摘要

A process is disclosed for hydrogenating impurities in a solvent feed, wherein the solvent feed and hydrogen are fed to a catalytic distillation tower, the impurities in the solvent feed are hydrogenated in the catalytic distillation tower to form a hydrogenation product, the hydrogenation product is fed to a distillation tower, and the hydrogenation product is distilled in the distillation tower to produce a product solvent. The light components and treatgas are distilled from the hydrogenation product in the catalytic distillation tower, before the hydrogenation product is fed to the distillation tower. The catalytic distillation tower includes a catalytic zone, and the solvent feed is fed to the catalytic distillation tower above the catalytic zone. Furthermore, hydrogen is fed to the catalytic distillation tower below the catalytic zone. Preferably, the catalytic zone is retrofitted with catalytic distillation packing within a standard distillation tower. In addition, the process includes the step of removing heavy by-products as bottoms from the distillation tower.