A hydrocarbon conversion process is described. The process includes contacting in a reactor an inert gas with one or more catalyst compositions suitable for methylation of toluene and hydrogenation of phenol; contacting a reducing agent with the one or more catalyst compositions under conditions suitable for reducing metal oxide content of the catalyst composition; contacting at least part of toluene and/or benzene-containing with a oxygenate in the presence of the one or more catalyst compositions and under conditions effective to convert toluene to xylenes and produce a reactor effluent stream comprising para-xylene and having a lower concentration of phenol than the toluene-containing stream; separating at least one para-xylene-enriched stream from the reactor effluent stream; and separating from the at least one para-xylene enriched stream at least one toluene-enriched stream and at least one para-xylene-product stream. An apparatus for carrying out such a process is also described.

A process is disclosed for opening naphthenic rings of naphthenic ring-containing compounds. Naphthene ring opening is achieved using a self-supported mixed metal sulfide catalyst comprising nickel sulfide, molybdenum sulfide, tungsten sulfide and an organic complexing agent. The catalyst is characterized as having a composition of metal components, in terms of molar ratios; as follows: 0.25Ni/(Ni+Mo+W)0.80; 0<Mo/(Ni+Mo+W)0.25; 0.12W/(Ni+Mo+W)0.50; and 1.5W/Mo3.0.

Optimizing power generation from waste heat in large industrial facilities such as petroleum refineries by utilizing a subset of all available hot source streams selected based, in part, on considerations for example, capital cost, ease of operation, economics of scale power generation, a number of organic Rankine cycle (ORC) machines to be operated, operating conditions of each ORC machine, combinations of them, or other considerations are described. Subsets of hot sources that are optimized to provide waste heat to one or more ORC machines for power generation are also described. Further, recognizing that the utilization of waste heat from all available hot sources in a mega-site such as a petroleum refinery and aromatics complex is not necessarily or not always the best option, hot source units in petroleum refineries from which waste heat can be consolidated to power the one or more ORC machines are identified.

Optimizing power generation from waste heat in large industrial facilities such as petroleum refineries by utilizing a subset of all available hot source streams selected based, in part, on considerations for example, capital cost, ease of operation, economics of scale power generation, a number of organic Rankine cycle (ORC) machines to be operated, operating conditions of each ORC machine, combinations of them, or other considerations are described. Subsets of hot sources that are optimized to provide waste heat to one or more ORC machines for power generation are also described. Further, recognizing that the utilization of waste heat from all available hot sources in a mega-site such as a petroleum refinery and aromatics complex is not necessarily or not always the best option, hot source units in petroleum refineries from which waste heat can be consolidated to power the one or more ORC machines are identified.

The invention relates to a p-xylene separation process wherein at least a portion of ethylbenzene present in an aromatics-containing feed is removed prior to isomerization. Aspects of the invention provide a process for producing p-xylene. The process includes providing a first mixture comprising 5.0 wt. % of aromatic C.sub.8 isomers, the C.sub.8 isomers comprising p-xylene and ethylbenzene. A p-xylene-containing portion and an ethylbenzene-containing portion are separated from the first mixture in a first separation stage to form a p-xylene-depleted raffinate. The first separation stage can include at least one simulated moving-bed adsorptive separation stage. At least a portion the p-xylene-depleted raffinate in the liquid phase is reacted to produce a reactor effluent comprising aromatic C.sub.8 isomers. The first mixture can be combined with 50.0 wt. % of the reactor effluent's aromatic C.sub.8 isomers. The combining can be carried out before and/or during the separating of the p-xylene and ethylbenzene portions.

In a process for producing para-xylene, at least one feed comprising C.sub.6+ aromatic hydrocarbons is supplied to a dividing wall distillation column to separate the feed into a C.sub.7 aromatic hydrocarbon-containing stream, a C.sub.8 aromatic hydrocarbon-containing stream and a C.sub.9+ aromatic hydrocarbon-containing stream. At least part of the C.sub.8 aromatic hydrocarbon-containing stream is then supplied to a para-xylene recovery unit to recover para-xylene from the C.sub.8 aromatic hydrocarbon-containing stream and produce a para-xylene depleted stream. The para-xylene depleted stream is contacted with a xylene isomerization catalyst in a xylene isomerization zone under conditions effective to isomerize xylenes in the para-xylene depleted stream and produce an isomerized stream, which is then at least partially recycled to the para-xylene recovery unit.

In a process for producing para-xylene, at least one feed comprising C.sub.6+ aromatic hydrocarbons is supplied to a dividing wall distillation column to separate the feed into a C.sub.7 aromatic hydrocarbon-containing stream, a C.sub.8 aromatic hydrocarbon-containing stream and a C.sub.9+ aromatic hydrocarbon-containing stream. At least part of the C.sub.8 aromatic hydrocarbon-containing stream is then supplied to a para-xylene recovery unit to recover para-xylene from the C.sub.8 aromatic hydrocarbon-containing stream and produce a para-xylene depleted stream. The para-xylene depleted stream is contacted with a xylene isomerization catalyst in a xylene isomerization zone under conditions effective to isomerize xylenes in the para-xylene depleted stream and produce an isomerized stream, which is then at least partially recycled to the para-xylene recovery unit.

This disclosure relates to the production of xylenes from syngas, in which the syngas is converted to an aromatic product by reaction with an isosynthesis catalyst and an aromatization catalyst. The isosynthesis catalyst and aromatization catalyst may be different catalysts or combined into a single catalyst. The aromatic product is then subjected to one of more of (i) xylene isomerization, (ii) transalkylation with at least one C.sub.9+ aromatic hydrocarbon, and (iii) alkylation with methanol and/or carbon monoxide and hydrogen to increase its p-xylene content.

This disclosure relates to the production of xylenes from syngas, in which the syngas is converted to an aromatic product by reaction with an isosynthesis catalyst and an aromatization catalyst. The isosynthesis catalyst and aromatization catalyst may be different catalysts or combined into a single catalyst. The aromatic product is then subjected to one of more of (i) xylene isomerization, (ii) transalkylation with at least one C.sub.9+ aromatic hydrocarbon, and (iii) alkylation with methanol and/or carbon monoxide and hydrogen to increase its p-xylene content.

In a process for producing para-xylene, at least one feed comprising C.sub.6+ aromatic hydrocarbons is supplied to a dividing wall distillation column to separate the feed into a C.sub.7 aromatic hydrocarbon-containing stream, a C.sub.8 aromatic hydrocarbon-containing stream and a C.sub.9+ aromatic hydrocarbon-containing stream. At least part of the C.sub.8 aromatic hydrocarbon-containing stream is then supplied to a para-xylene recovery unit to recover para-xylene from the C.sub.8 aromatic hydrocarbon-containing stream and produce a para-xylene depleted stream. The para-xylene depleted stream is contacted with a xylene isomerization catalyst in a xylene isomerization zone under conditions effective to isomerize xylenes in the para-xylene depleted stream and produce an isomerized stream, which is then at least partially recycled to the para-xylene recovery unit.