Apparatus for ionic liquid catalyst regeneration

Abstract

An apparatus for regenerating an ionic liquid catalyst comprising a reactive extraction column, the reactive extraction column comprising: (a) an upper feed port, wherein a slurry of an ionic liquid catalyst and an aluminum metal enter the reactive extraction column; (b) a lower feed port, wherein a solvent and optionally a hydrogen gas enter the reactive extraction column; (c) a moveable bed comprised of the aluminum metal between the upper and lower feed ports, wherein the ionic liquid catalyst and the aluminum metal reacts to free conjunct polymers from the ionic liquid catalyst and some of the freed conjunct polymers are extracted from the ionic liquid catalyst by the solvent to provide regenerated ionic liquid catalyst; (d) a lower exit port, wherein the regenerated ionic liquid catalyst exits the reactive extraction column; and (e) an upper exit port, wherein the solvent and freed conjunct polymers exit the reactive extraction column.

1 . An apparatus for regenerating an ionic liquid catalyst which has been deactivated by conjunct polymers comprising a reactive extraction column, the reactive extraction column comprising:
 (a) an upper feed port in the upper end of the reactive extraction column, wherein a slurry of an ionic liquid catalyst and an aluminum metal enter the reactive extraction column;   (b) a lower feed port in the lower end of the reactive extraction column, wherein a solvent and optionally a hydrogen gas enter the reactive extraction column;   (c) a moveable bed comprised of the aluminum metal between the upper and lower feed ports, wherein the ionic liquid catalyst and the aluminum metal reacts to free conjunct polymers from the ionic liquid catalyst and some of the freed conjunct polymers are extracted from the ionic liquid catalyst by the solvent to provide regenerated ionic liquid catalyst;   (d) a lower exit port in the lower end of the reactive extraction column, wherein the regenerated ionic liquid catalyst exits the reactive extraction column; and   (e) an upper exit port in the upper end of the reactive extraction column, wherein the solvent and freed conjunct polymers exit the reactive extraction column.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the reactive extraction column further comprises:
 (f) a lower extraction packing and an upper extraction packing, wherein the moveable bed is sandwiched between the lower and upper extraction packings; and   (g) a screen between the moveable bed and the lower extraction packing to trap stray aluminum metal that has left the moveable bed,   wherein a portion of the ionic liquid catalyst and the aluminum metal reacts in the lower and upper extraction packings to free conjunct polymers from the portion of the ionic liquid catalyst and some of freed conjunct polymers are extracted from the ionic liquid catalyst by the solvent in the lower and upper extraction packings to provide regenerated ionic liquid catalyst.   
     
     
         3 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a first filter connected to the lower exit port, wherein a portion of the aluminum metal is separated from the regenerated ionic liquid catalyst.   a second filter connected to the upper exit port, wherein a second portion of the aluminum metal is separated from the solvent and conjunct polymers; and   a coalescer downstream from the second filter, wherein a portion of the regenerated ionic liquid catalyst that is blended with the solvent and the conjunct polymers is separated from the solvent and the conjunct polymers; and   wherein the reactive extraction column further comprises a recycle inlet port in the upper end of reactive extraction column, wherein the regenerated ionic liquid catalyst that exits the coalescer is recycled to the reactive extraction column.   
     
     
         4 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the reactive extraction column further comprises:
 (f) a settling zone immediately below the upper feed port, wherein the slurry of the ionic liquid catalyst and the aluminum metal settles after entering the reactive extraction column through the upper feed port;   (g) a first feed distributor below the settling zone, wherein the first feed distributor uniformly distributes the slurry of the ionic liquid catalyst and the aluminum metal from the settling zone into the moveable bed; and   (h) a second feed distributor adjacent to the lower feed port in the bottom end of the reactive extraction column, wherein the second feed distributor uniformly distributes the solvent from the lower feed port into the moveable bed.   
     
     
         5 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the moveable bed is sandwiched between a pair of extraction packings. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein at least one of the pair of extraction packings provide an additional reaction zone and increase the chance of the aluminum metal reacting to extinction. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein the pair of extraction packings provide an additional extraction zone for solvent extracting the freed conjunct polymer from an ionic liquid catalyst/conjunct polymer phase. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus according to  claim 3 , wherein the coalescer is a reverse-emulsifier. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a screen that traps stray aluminum metal that has migrated through gravitational effects. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus according to  claim 4 , wherein the first feed distributor is located above the moveable bed. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus according to  claim 4 , wherein the second feed distributor is located below the moveable bed. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the hydrogen gas is supplied from an outside source. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the hydrogen gas is supplied from a separate on-site facility. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus according to  claim 14 , wherein the separate on-site facility reforms natural gas into hydrogen using steam reforming processes. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the solvent is a non-branched hydrocarbon solvent. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , additionally comprising a coalescer downstream from the upper exit port that separates the ionic liquid catalyst from the solvent and freed conjunct polymers that exit the reactive extraction column, and wherein a separated ionic liquid catalyst is recycled to the reactive extraction column. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the ionic liquid catalyst is a pyridinium or imidazolium-based chloroaluminate ionic liquid. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the ionic liquid catalyst has been used to catalyze a Friedel-Crafts reaction. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus according to  claim 19 , wherein the Friedel-Crafts reaction is alkylation. 
     
     
         20 . An apparatus for regenerating an ionic liquid catalyst comprising a reactive extraction column, the reactive extraction column comprising:
 (a) an upper feed port, wherein a slurry of an ionic liquid catalyst and an aluminum metal enter the reactive extraction column;   (b) a lower feed port, wherein a solvent and optionally a hydrogen gas enter the reactive extraction column;   (c) a moveable bed comprised of the aluminum metal between the upper and lower feed ports, wherein the ionic liquid catalyst and the aluminum metal reacts to free conjunct polymers from the ionic liquid catalyst and some of the freed conjunct polymers are extracted from the ionic liquid catalyst by the solvent to provide regenerated ionic liquid catalyst;   (d) a lower exit port, wherein the regenerated ionic liquid catalyst exits the reactive extraction column; and   (e) an upper exit port, wherein the solvent and freed conjunct polymers exit the reactive extraction column.