Methods for producing linear paraffins and olefins from natural oils

Abstract

A method for producing a linear paraffin includes providing a natural oil in a feed stream, deoxygenating the natural oil to form a stream comprising paraffins, purifying the stream comprising paraffins to form a purified stream comprising paraffins, and separating a first fraction of paraffin product from the purified stream comprising paraffins. A method for producing a linear olefin includes providing a natural oil in a feed stream, deoxygenating the natural oil to form a stream comprising paraffins, dehydrogenating the stream comprising paraffins to form a stream comprising olefins, purifying the stream comprising olefins to form a purified stream comprising olefins, and separating a first fraction of olefin product from the purified stream comprising olefins.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for producing a linear olefin product from a natural oil comprising:
 providing a natural oil in a feed stream;   deoxygenating the natural oil to form a stream comprising paraffins;   dehydrogenating the stream comprising paraffins to form a stream comprising olefins; and   purifying the stream comprising olefins to form a purified stream comprising olefins.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising separating a first fraction of olefin product from the purified stream comprising olefins. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising separating a second fraction of olefin product from the purified stream comprising olefins. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein separating the first fraction of olefin product comprises separating a C 10 -C 14  fraction of olefin product and wherein separating the second fraction of olefin product comprises separating a C 18 -C 20  fraction of olefin product. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising separating hydrogen from the stream comprising olefins and recycling the hydrogen for use in deoxygenating the natural oil. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising separating olefins from the purified stream comprising olefins, wherein separating olefins from the purified stream comprising olefins comprises separating olefins using direct sulfonation. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising separating olefins from the purified stream comprising olefins, wherein separating olefins from the purified stream comprising olefins comprises separating olefins using selective adsorption from a liquid phase mixture by continuous contact with a fixed-bed adsorbent. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising recycling the unconverted paraffins for dehydrogenation to form olefins. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising hydrogenating di-olefins in the stream comprising olefins using a selective hydrogenation process. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein deoxygenating the natural oil comprises catalytically deoxygenating the natural oil. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising removing one or more of water, carbon dioxide, and propane from the stream comprising paraffins. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein purifying the stream comprising olefins comprises purifying the stream comprising olefins using an adsorption process. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein purifying the stream comprising olefins comprises removing one or more of oxygenates, nitrogen compounds, and sulfur. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein providing a natural oil in a feed stream comprises providing a natural oil chosen from the group comprising: coconut oil, babassu oil, castor oil, algae 1 byproduct, beef tallow oil, borage oil, camelina oil, Canola® oil, choice white grease, coffee oil, corn oil,  Cuphea Viscosissima  oil, evening primrose oil, fish oil, hemp oil, hepar oil, jatropha oil,  Lesquerella Fendleri  oil, linseed oil,  Moringa Oleifera  oil, mustard oil, neem oil, palm oil,  perilla  seed oil, poultry fat, rice bran oil, soybean oil, stillingia oil, sunflower oil, tung oil, yellow grease, cooking oil, and mixtures thereof