Method for co-production of aviation fuel and diesel

Abstract

A process plant and a process for production of a hydrocarbon suitable for use as jet fuel from a feedstock being a renewable feedstock or an oxygenate feedstock, including combining the feedstock with an amount of a liquid diluent, directing it to contact a material catalytically active in hydrodeoxygenation under hydrotreating conditions to provide a hydrodeoxygenated intermediate product, directing at least an amount of the hydrodeoxygenated intermediate product to contact a material catalytically active in hydrocracking under hydrocracking conditions providing the hydrocracked intermediate product, separating the hydrocracked intermediate product in a vapor fraction and a liquid fraction, directing at least an amount of the liquid hydrocracked product to contact a material catalytically active in isomerization under isomerization conditions to provide an isomerized intermediate product, and fractionating the isomerized intermediate product to provide at least a hydrocarbon suitable for use as jet fuel.

Claims

1. A process for production of a hydrocarbon fraction suitable for use as jet fuel from an oxygenate feedstock, comprising the steps of a. combining the feedstock with an amount of a liquid diluent, to form a combined feedstock, directing said combined feedstock to contact a material catalytically active in hydrodeoxygenation under hydrotreating conditions to provide a hydrodeoxygenated intermediate product, b. directing at least an amount of said hydrodeoxygenated intermediate product to contact a material catalytically active in hydrocracking under hydrocracking conditions to provide the hydrocracked intermediate product, c. separating said hydrocracked intermediate product in at least two fractions including a vapor fraction and a liquid fraction, d. optionally providing at least an amount of said liquid hydrocracked product as said liquid diluent, e. directing at least an amount of said liquid hydrocracked product to contact a material catalytically active in isomerization under isomerization conditions to provide an isomerized intermediate product, and f. fractionating said isomerized intermediate product to provide at least said hydrocarbon fraction suitable for use as jet fuel.

2. The process according to claim 1, wherein said hydrocarbon fraction suitable for use as jet fuel has a final boiling point according to ASTM D86 being less than 300° C.

3. The process according to claim 1, wherein the volume of hydrogen sulfide relative to the volume of molecular hydrogen in the gas phase of the combined feedstock directed to contact the material catalytically active in hydrodeoxygenation is at least 50 ppm.sub.v, optionally by adding a stream comprising one or more sulfur compounds.

4. The process according to claim 1, wherein said feedstock comprises at least 50 wt/wt % triglycerides or fatty acids.

5. The process according to claim 1, wherein hydrodeoxygenation conditions involve a temperature in the interval 250-400° C., a pressure in the interval 30-150 Bar, and a liquid hourly space velocity in the interval 0.1-2 and wherein the material catalytically active in hydrodeoxygenation comprises one or more sulfided metals taken from the group of nickel, cobalt, molybdenum or tungsten, supported on a carrier comprising one or more refractory oxides.

6. The process according to claim 1, wherein hydrocracking conditions involve a temperature in the interval 250-425° C., a pressure in the interval 30-150 Bar, and a liquid hourly space velocity in the interval 0.5-4, optionally together with intermediate cooling by quenching with cold hydrogen, feed or product and wherein the material catalytically active in hydrocracking comprises (a) one or more active metals taken from the group platinum, palladium, nickel, cobalt, tungsten and molybdenum, (b) an acidic support taken from the group of a molecular sieve showing high cracking activity, and amorphous acidic oxides and (c) a refractory support.

7. The process according to claim 1, wherein the amount of material boiling above 300° C. in said hydrocracked intermediate product is reduced by at least 20 wt/wt %, compared to said hydrodeoxygenated intermediate product.

8. The process according to claim 1, wherein at least an amount of said isomerized intermediate product is directed to contact a material catalytically active in hydrodearomatization under hydrodearomatization conditions to provide a hydrodearomatized product comprising less than 1 wt/wt %, calculated by total mass of the aromatic molecules relative to all hydrocarbons in the stream, where said hydrodearomatized product is fractionated in place of said isomerized intermediate product in step (f).

9. The process according to claim 8, wherein hydrodearomatization conditions involve a temperature in the interval 200-350° C., a pressure in the interval 30-150 Bar, and a liquid hourly space velocity in the interval 0.5-8 and wherein said material catalytically active in hydrodearomatization comprises an active metal taken from the group comprising platinum, palladium, nickel, cobalt, tungsten and molybdenum, and a refractory support.

10. The process according to claim 1, wherein isomerization conditions involves a temperature in the interval 250-350° C., a pressure in the interval 30-150 Bar, and a liquid hourly space velocity in the interval 0.5-8 and wherein the material catalytically active in isomerization comprises an active metal taken from the group comprising platinum, palladium, nickel, cobalt, tungsten and molybdenum, an acidic and an amorphous refractory support comprising one or more oxides taken from the group comprising alumina, silica and titania or combinations thereof.

11. A process plant for production of a hydrocarbon fraction suitable for use as jet fuel from a feedstock being a renewable feedstock or an oxygenate feedstock, said process plant comprising a hydrodeoxygenation section, a hydrocracking section, a separation section, an isomerization section, and a fractionation section, said process plant being configured for a. directing the feedstock and a liquid diluent to the hydrodeoxygenation section to provide a hydrodeoxygenated intermediate product, b. directing at least an amount of said hydrodeoxygenated intermediate product to contact a material catalytically active in hydrocracking under hydrocracking conditions to provide the hydrocracked intermediate product, c. separating said hydrocracked intermediate product in a vapor fraction and a liquid fraction, d. directing at least an amount of said liquid hydrocracked product to contact a material catalytically active in isomerization under isomerization conditions to provide an isomerized intermediate product, and e. fractionating said isomerized intermediate product in said fractionation section (FRAC) to provide at least a hydrocarbon suitable for use as jet fuel.

12. A process plant according to claim 11, further comprising a recycle connection being configured for providing an amount of said liquid hydrocracked product as liquid diluent.

Description

FIGURES

[0053] FIG. 1 shows a simplified illustration of a process according to the present disclosure.

[0054] FIG. 2 shows a simplified illustration of a process according to the prior art.

[0055] FIG. 3 shows a simplified illustration of a process according to the prior art.

[0056] FIG. 1 is a simplified figure showing a layout according to the present disclosure, omitting supply of gaseous streams and details of separation for simplicity. A renewable feedstock (102) is combined with a recycle diluent stream (128) and directed as a hydrodeoxygenation feed stream (104) together with an amount of a hydrogen rich stream (not shown) to a hydrodeoxygenation reactor (HDO) where it contacts a material catalytically active in hydrogenation under hydrotreating conditions. This provides a hydrodeoxygenated intermediate product (106). The hydrodeoxygenated intermediate product (106) is directed to a hydrocracking reactor (HDC) operating under hydrocracking conditions, providing a hydrocracked intermediate product (108). The hydrocracked intermediate product (108) is directed to separation section (SEP), shown for simplicity as a single unit, separating the hydrocracked intermediate product in a gas stream for recycle and a liquid intermediate product stream (110). The liquid intermediate product stream (110) is split in a recycle diluent stream (128) and an isomerization reactor feed stream (112) directed as feed to an isomerization reactor (ISOM), where it contacts a material catalytically active in isomerization under isomerization conditions and optionally a further material catalytically active in hydrodearomatization under hydrodearomatization conditions, providing an isomerized product (116) which is directed to a fractionation section (FRAC) shown for simplicity as a single unit, separating the isomerized product in a light overhead stream (120), a naphtha product (122), a jet product (124) and a bottom diesel fraction (126).

[0057] FIG. 2 shows an example of the prior art, in a level of detail similar to FIG. 1, omitting supply of gaseous streams and details of separation for simplicity. A renewable feedstock (202) is combined with a recycle diluent stream (228) and directed as a hydrodeoxygenation feed stream (204) together with an amount of a hydrogen rich stream (not shown) to a hydrodeoxygenation reactor (HDO) where it contacts a material catalytically active in hydrogenation under hydrotreating conditions. This provides a hydrodeoxygenated intermediate product (214), which is directed to a hydroisomerization reactor (ISOM) where it contacts a material catalytically active in isomerization under isomerization conditions, providing a dewaxed intermediate product (216). The dewaxed intermediate product (216) is directed to a fractionation section (FRAC) shown for simplicity as a single unit, separating the hydrocracked product in a light overhead stream (220), a naphtha stream (222), a jet product (224) and a bottom diesel fraction which is split in a recycle diluent stream (228) and a diesel product stream (226).

[0058] FIG. 3 shows a further example of the prior art, omitting supply of gaseous streams and details of separation for simplicity. A renewable feedstock (302) is combined with a recycle diluent stream (328) and directed as a hydrodeoxygenation feed stream (304) together with an amount of a hydrogen rich stream (not shown) to a hydrodeoxygenation reactor (HDO) where it contacts a material catalytically active in hydrogenation under hydrotreating conditions. This provides a hydrodeoxygenated intermediate product (306), which is directed to a separation section (SEP), from which a purified hydrodeoxygenated intermediate product (308) is retrieved, and split in a recycle diluent stream (328) and an isomerization feed stream (310), which is combined with a sulfur free hydrogen stream (not shown) and to a hydroisomerization reactor (ISOM). In this reactor the combined feed stream contacts a noble metal based material catalytically active in isomerization under isomerization conditions, providing a dewaxed intermediate product (312). The dewaxed intermediate product (312) is directed to a fractionation section (FRAC) shown for simplicity as a single unit, separating the hydrocracked product in a light overhead stream (320), a naphtha stream (322), a jet product (324) and a bottom diesel fraction (326).

EXAMPLES

[0059] The performance of the process layouts shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 have been compared.

[0060] Table 1 shows the characteristics of a renewable feedstock which is a combination of animal fat and cooking oil and the intermediate products after hydrotreatment. The intermediate product is dominated by C16 and C18 alkanes, has a high freezing point (24° C.) and contains more than 1.5 wt/wt % aromatics. The feedstock was treated in two processes in accordance with FIGS. 1 and 3 respectively, and the results of this treatment are shown in Table 2, where “Example 1” corresponds to FIG. 1 and “Example 2” corresponds to FIG. 2. The values for “net jet make” are calculated as the amount of jet produced in the process, subtracting the amount of jet already present in the feedstock by the formula net jet make=[total jet product]−[native jet present in the feed]. Yields are presented in this table as wt/wt % of feed to the unit. Eg. a Jet yield of 51 wt/wt % indicate that 51 kg of jet fuel is produced for each 100 kg of feed that is processed in the unit.

[0061] The results of both examples show a production of a jet fuel with excellent properties, a low freezing point (−40° C.) and a low aromatics content (<0.5 wt/wt %). Example 1 according to the present disclosure has a jet yield of 51 wt/wt %, whereas Example 2 has a jet yield of 43 wt/wt %, assuming a cut point between jet and diesel of 300° C. In the optimization of a process under the assumption of a higher value of jet fuel, this difference is evidently a highly attractive benefit of Example 1.

[0062] The key difference between the performance in the two cases is that Example 1 provides a jet yield of 52 wt/wt %, whereas Example 2 provides a much lower yield of 43 wt/wt %. As the conversion takes place in a recycle configuration, milder reaction conditions may be chosen, reducing the over-conversion to naphtha compared to a once-through conversion. In the optimization of a process under the assumption of a higher value of jet fuel, the resulting difference is evidently a highly attractive benefit of Example 1.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Feedstock Feedstock A Source Animal fat/used cooking oil C16 fatty acids 20 wt/wt% C18 fatty acids 74 wt/wt% Properties of hydrodeoxygenated intermediate product Property Method of Analysis Freezing point ASTM D 5972 24° C. Aromatics ASTM D 6591 1.5 wt/wt% Boiling point (° C.) ASTM D 7213 C IBP 200 10 wt/wt% 290 30 wt/wt% 317 50 wt/wt% 321 70 wt/wt% 323 90 wt/wt% 324 FBP 482 Native jet, wt/wt%  17 110-300° C. Example 1 Example 2 P 70 barg 70 barg T(HDO) 320° C. 320° C. T(ISOM) 315° C. 330° C. LHSV (ISOM) 2 2 T(HDC) 350° C. — LHSV (HDC) 0.6 — Net jet make 35 wt/wt% 26 wt/wt% Freezing pt Jet −40° C. −40° C. Aromatics Jet <0.5 wt/wt% <0.5 wt/wt% Naphtha Yield 8 wt/wt% 5 wt/wt% (bp. 60° C.-110° C.) Jet yield 52 wt/wt% 43 wt/wt% (bp. 110° C.-300° C.) Diesel yield 20 wt/wt% 35 wt/wt% (bp. 300° C.-370°C.)