The present invention relates to a method for removal of an organic amine from a liquid hydrocarbon stream containing the amine, comprising: a) adding water to the hydrocarbon stream containing the amine, b) bubbling carbon dioxide through the hydrocarbon stream containing the amine, and c) separating a solid phase formed containing the amine from a liquid phase.

The present invention relates to a process for treating an effluent obtained from an oligomerization step in a vaporization step. In particular, the oligomerization step is a step for dimerization of ethylene to 1-butene with a nickel-based catalytic system.

A method of converting one or more alkanes to one or more alkenes that includes providing a first stream containing one or more alkanes and oxygen to an oxidative dehydrogenation reactor; converting at least a portion of the one or more alkanes to one or more alkenes in the oxidative dehydrogenation reactor to provide a second stream exiting the oxidative dehydrogenation reactor containing one or more alkanes, one or more alkenes, and one or more of oxygen, carbon monoxide and acetylene; and providing the second stream to a second reactor containing a catalyst that includes CuO and ZnO and reacting the second stream to provide a third stream exiting the second reactor containing one or more alkanes, one or more alkenes, and lower or undetectable levels of oxygen and acetylene compared to the second stream.

A method of converting one or more alkanes to one or more alkenes that includes providing a first stream containing one or more alkanes and oxygen to an oxidative dehydrogenation reactor; converting at least a portion of the one or more alkanes to one or more alkenes in the oxidative dehydrogenation reactor to provide a second stream exiting the oxidative dehydrogenation reactor containing one or more alkanes, one or more alkenes, and one or more of oxygen, carbon monoxide and acetylene; and providing the second stream to a second reactor containing a catalyst that includes CuO and ZnO and reacting the second stream to provide a third stream exiting the second reactor containing one or more alkanes, one or more alkenes, and lower or undetectable levels of oxygen and acetylene compared to the second stream.

The invention relates to a process for obtaining isobutene from an isobutene containing C4-hydrocarbon mixture (1) in a plant comprising an etherification unit (3), a first distillation unit (5), an ether cleavage unit (8) and a second distillation unit (10), the process comprising: (a) contacting the C4-hydrocarbon mixture (1) with a primary alcohol (2) and reacting the mixture with the primary alcohol in the presence of an acidic catalyst to form the corresponding alkyl tert-butyl ether as an intermediate product and diisobutene as a by-product in the etherification unit (3): (b) distilling the reaction mixture (4) from the etherification unit (3) in the first distillation unit (5), a C4-hydrocarbon raffinate being withdrawn as the overhead product (6), the alkyl tert-butyl ether and diisobutene being withdrawn as the liquid or vaporous bottom product (7), and vaporizing the bottom product (7) if it is withdrawn as a liquid: (c) reacting the vaporous bottom product (7) in the presence of an acidic catalyst obtaining isobutene and the primary alcohol as reaction products in the ether cleavage unit (8): (d) distilling the reaction mixture (9) from the ether cleavage unit (8) in the second distillation unit (10), isobutene being withdrawn as the overhead product (11), the primary alcohol and diisobutene being withdrawn as the bottom product (12) and being recycled to the etherification unit (3); the plant further comprising a byproduct separation unit (15) being fed by a bottom purge stream (13) of the first distillation unit (5) and/or by a part of the bottom product of the second distillation unit (10), wherein a diisobutene product stream rich in diisobutene is separated from this feed stream (13, 14).

Methods for producing olefins through hydrocarbon steam cracking include passing a hydrocarbon feed that includes one or more hydrocarbons to a hydrocarbon cracking unit and passing one or more sulfur-containing compounds to the hydrocarbon cracking unit. The sulfur-containing compounds include at least hydrogen sulfide gas, and a flow rate of the sulfur-containing compounds to the hydrocarbon cracking unit is sufficient to produce a molar concentration of elemental sulfur in the hydrocarbon cracking unit of from 10 ppm to 200 ppm. The methods include cracking the hydrocarbon feed in the hydrocarbon cracking unit to produce a cracker effluent and contacting the cracker effluent with a quench fluid in a quench unit to produce at least a cracked gas and a first pygas. The first pygas has a concentration of carbon disulfide less than 50 ppmw based on the total mass flow rate of the first pygas.

The invention relates to a process for obtaining isobutene from an isobutene containing C4-hydrocarbon mixture (1) in a plant comprising an etherification unit (3), a first distillation unit (5), an ether cleavage unit (8) and a second distillation unit (10), the process comprising: (a) contacting the C4-hydrocarbon mixture (1) with a primary alcohol (2) and reacting the mixture with the primary alcohol in the presence of an acidic catalyst to form the corresponding alkyl tert-butyl ether as an intermediate product and diisobutene as a by-product in the etherification unit (3); (b) distilling the reaction mixture (4) from the etherification unit (3) in the first distillation unit (5), a C4-hydrocarbon raffinate being withdrawn as the overhead product (6), the alkyl tert-butyl ether and diisobutene being withdrawn as the liquid or vaporous bottom product (7), and vaporizing the bottom product (7) if it is withdrawn as a liquid; (c) reacting the vaporous bottom product (7) in the presence of an acidic catalyst obtaining isobutene and the primary alcohol as reaction products in the ether cleavage unit (8); (d) distilling the reaction mixture (9) from the ether cleavage unit (8) in the second distillation unit (10), isobutene being withdrawn as the overhead product (11), the primary alcohol and diisobutene being withdrawn as the bottom product (12) and being recycled to the etherification unit (3); the plant further comprising a byproduct separation unit (15) being fed by a bottom purge stream (13) of the first distillation unit (5) and/or by a part of the bottom product of the second distillation unit (10), this feed stream (14) being split up in at least three byproduct streams wherein a first byproduct stream (16) is rich in diisobutene, a second byproduct stream (17) is rich in the primary alcohol, and a third byproduct stream (18) is rich in components with a normal boiling point higher than 110 C.

A method of converting one or more alkanes to one or more alkenes that includes providing a first stream containing one or more alkanes and oxygen to an oxidative dehydrogenation reactor; converting at least a portion of the one or more alkanes to one or more alkenes in the oxidative dehydrogenation reactor to provide a second stream exiting the oxidative dehydrogenation reactor containing one or more alkanes, one or more alkenes, and one or more of oxygen, carbon monoxide and acetylene; and providing the second stream to a second reactor containing a catalyst that includes CuO and ZnO and reacting the second stream to provide a third stream exiting the second reactor containing one or more alkanes, one or more alkenes, and lower or undetectable levels of oxygen and acetylene compared to the second stream.

A method of converting one or more alkanes to one or more alkenes that includes providing a first stream containing one or more alkanes and oxygen to an oxidative dehydrogenation reactor; converting at least a portion of the one or more alkanes to one or more alkenes in the oxidative dehydrogenation reactor to provide a second stream exiting the oxidative dehydrogenation reactor containing one or more alkanes, one or more alkenes, and one or more of oxygen, carbon monoxide and acetylene; and providing the second stream to a second reactor containing a catalyst that includes CuO and ZnO and reacting the second stream to provide a third stream exiting the second reactor containing one or more alkanes, one or more alkenes, and lower or undetectable levels of oxygen and acetylene compared to the second stream.

Described is a method for purifying a flow of natural gas, comprising the steps: a) processing a portion of the flow by pyrolysis at a temperature in the range from 1000 C. to 2000 C. to decompose the hydrocarbons comprising at least two carbon atoms into elemental carbon and dihydrogen to obtain a processed flow, b) eliminating the elemental carbon present in the processed flow from step a) to obtain a processed flow without elemental carbon; c) when a) and b) have been carried out on a portion of the natural gas flow, mixing the processed flow without any elemental carbon from step b) with the portion of the non-processed flow; d) obtaining a flow of purified natural gas consisting of either the mixture from step c) or the processed flow without any elemental carbon from step b). The invention also relates to preparing fuel from natural gas purified in this manner.