The present invention relates to a process for polymerising lactide into polylactic acid. The present invention also relates to reactor configuration for polymerising lactide into polylactic acid.

In a hydrocarbon-fed steam methane reformer hydrogen-production process and system, carbon dioxide is recovered in a pre-combustion context, and optionally additional amounts of carbon dioxide are recovered in a post-combustion carbon dioxide removal, to provide the improved carbon dioxide recovery or capture disclosed herein.

The invention is concerned with the issue of how to produce n-pentanal by hydroformylation from feedstock mixtures comprising a small proportion of n-butene and a large proportion of n-butane. Specifically, solutions for further optimizing established processes for hydroformylation of such low-butene mixtures in terms of material utilization are sought. The present invention has for its object to enhance the material utilization of the feedstock mixture in the production of n-pentanal from feedstock mixtures having a small proportion of n-butene and a large proportion of n-butane. The process shall be capable of economic operation on an industrial scale. In particular an existing oxo plant shall be honed to achieve better raw material utilization. This object is achieved by a combination of a hydroformylation and a dehydrogenation, wherein said combination has the special feature that the dehydrogenation is arranged after the hydroformylation in the downstream direction and is thus markedly smaller than conventional dehydrogenations provided upstream. A skillful product removal effectively removes contaminants formed in the process.

A process for the co-production of methanol and ammonia is described comprising the steps of: (a) forming a first synthesis gas stream by reacting a first portion of a hydrocarbon feedstock and steam in a steam reformer, (b) forming a second synthesis gas stream in parallel to the first synthesis gas stream by reacting a second portion of the hydrocarbon feedstock with an oxygen-containing gas and steam in an autothermal reformer, (c) synthesising methanol from a first process gas comprising the first synthesis gas stream, and (d) synthesising ammonia from a second process gas prepared from the second synthesis gas stream, wherein a purge stream containing hydrogen is recovered from the methanol synthesis step (c) and a portion of the purge gas stream is fed to the autothermal reformer and/or the second synthesis gas in step (b).

A system for processing a stream including fuel oil includes an atmospheric flash column for receiving the stream as feedstock and separate the stream into an atmospheric flash distillate stream and an atmospheric flash residue stream. The system includes a vacuum flash column for receiving the atmospheric flash residue stream and separating the atmospheric flash residue stream into a vacuum flash distillate stream, a vacuum flash residue stream, and a vacuum gas oil stream. The system includes a first hydrocracking unit for receiving and processing at least a portion of the vacuum flash residue stream to produce an intermediate stream and a slurry. The system includes a second hydrocracking unit for receiving and processing the vacuum gas oil stream and the intermediate stream to produce a naphtha product and a light ends product. The system includes a pelletization unit for receiving and processing the slurry to produce a pelletized product.

Improved systems and methods for producing propylene from olefins including isobutylene is disclosed. The improvements combine streams containing co-produced 1-butene, 2-butene, butadiene, and heavy olefins (C5+) exiting both a metathesis reactor and a skeletal isomerization reactor in a gasoline fractionation tower to remove the heavy olefins. The C4-containing distillate from the gasoline fractionation tower is then fed to a hydroisomerization unit to form mono-olefins and 2-butene. The resulting 2-butene rich stream can then be utilized in metathesis reactions to increase the production of propylene while increasing the lifetime of the metathesis catalyst.

Processes herein may be used to thermally crack various hydrocarbon feeds, and may eliminate the refinery altogether while making the crude to chemicals process very flexible in terms of crude. In embodiments herein, crude is progressively separated into at least light and heavy fractions. Depending on the quality of the light and heavy fractions, these are routed to one of three upgrading operations, including a fixed bed hydroconversion unit, a fluidized catalytic conversion unit, or a residue hydrocracking unit that may utilize an ebullated bed reactor. Products from the upgrading operations may be used as feed to a steam cracker.

Processes herein may be used to thermally crack various hydrocarbon feeds, and may eliminate the refinery altogether while making the crude to chemicals process very flexible in terms of crude. In embodiments herein, crude is progressively separated into at least light and heavy fractions. Depending on the quality of the light and heavy fractions, these are routed to one of three upgrading operations, including a fixed bed hydroconversion unit, a fluidized catalytic conversion unit, or a residue hydrocracking unit that may utilize an ebullated bed reactor. Products from the upgrading operations may be used as feed to a steam cracker.

Disclosed herein are a method and systems for cumene hydroperoxide cleavage with an improved configuration for online instrumentation. The systems comprise a first fluid loop comprising one or more reactors and a fluid pump and a second fluid loop in fluid communication with the first fluid loop. This second fluid loop comprises an instrument configured to measure a characteristic of a fluid flowing through the second loop, wherein an input of the second fluid loop is disposed downstream of said fluid pump and an output of the second fluid loop is disposed upstream of said fluid pump. The method comprises causing fluid to flow within a first stage comprising one or more reactors and a fluid pump, wherein the first stage is configured to decompose a cumene hydroperoxide in the presence of a catalyst mixture to form a dicumyl peroxide mixture. The method also comprises causing at least a portion of the fluid to flow through a instrumentation line in open fluid communication with the first stage. This instrumentation line comprises an instrument configured to measure a characteristic of the fluid flowing through the instrumentation line and an input of the instrument line is disposed downstream of said fluid pump.

The process and apparatus of the disclosure utilize a heater between a hydroprocessing reactor and a hydroisomerization reactor. A hydroprocessing feed exchanger cools hydroprocessed effluent to effect turndown of heated hydroprocessed effluent so as to not feed the hydroprocessed effluent to the hydroisomerization reactor at a higher temperature than necessary.