Continuous process for the production of 2,6-dimethylnaphthalene

摘要

A continuous process is presented for the production and recovery of a high purity stream of 2,6-dimethylnaphthalene. The process comprises the general steps of: fractionating a hydrocarbon feed stream to recover a process stream rich in the various isomers of dimethylnaphthalene; subjecting the process stream rich in isomers of dimethylnaphthalene to a selective adsorption step to produce at least two streams of dimethylnaphthalene isomers, one lean in the 2,6-dimethylnaphthalene isomer and subjecting the stream of dimethylnaphthalene isomers lean in the 2,6 isomer to isomerization to increase the concentration of the 2,6 isomer of dimethylnaphthalene therein and directing the isomerized stream back to the fractionation zone to further processing.