Upgrading olefin-containing feeds to diesel boiling range compounds

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for producing diesel boiling range compounds from an olefin-containing feed. The olefin-containing feed can include a refinery fuel gas and/or a naphtha feed. The olefin-containing feed can be exposed to a first set of conversion conditions that can include a low pressure to produce an oligomerized olefin effluent. The oligomerized olefin effluent can be exposed to a second set of conversion conditions that include a higher pressure than the first set of conversion conditions to produce a product effluent that includes diesel boiling range compounds.

1 . A method for converting an olefin-containing feed to diesel boiling range compounds, comprising:
 exposing an olefin-containing feed having an olefin content of at least about 10 wt % to a conversion catalyst under first effective conversion conditions to form an oligomerized olefin effluent comprising C 5 + olefinic compounds, wherein the first effective conversion conditions comprise a pressure of less than about 300 psig (2.1 MPa) and a temperature of from about 550° F. (288° C.) to about 800° F. (427° C.) and   exposing at least a portion of the C 5 + olefinic compounds to effective fixed bed conversion conditions to form a product effluent comprising diesel boiling range compounds, wherein the effective fixed bed conversion conditions comprise a pressure of at least about 300 psig and a temperature of from about 400° F. (204° C.) to about 700° F. (371° C.), wherein the first effective conversion conditions comprise a pressure that is at least about 50 psi (0.3 MPa) lower than the effective fixed bed conversion conditions.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first effective conversion conditions comprise fluidized bed conditions. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the effective fixed bed conversion conditions comprise a pressure of about 300 psig (2.1 MPa) to about 800 psig (5.5 MPa), a temperature of about 450° F. (232° C.) to about 600° F. (316° C.), or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the olefin-containing feed comprises refinery fuel gas. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the olefin-containing feed comprises FCC naphtha, olefinic naphtha, or mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising separating the oligomerized olefin effluent to form at least a first fraction comprising the at least a portion of the C 5 + olefinic compounds and a second fraction comprising compounds having three carbon atoms or less. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the second fraction comprises compounds having four carbon atoms or less. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the aromatic content of the product effluent comprising diesel boiling range compounds is about 20 wt % or less. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising hydrotreating at least a portion of the product effluent comprising diesel boiling range compounds. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the exposing the olefin-containing feed to first effective conversion conditions and/or effective fixed bed conversion conditions comprises exposing the olefin-containing feed to an acidic zeolite catalyst. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the olefin-containing feed comprises about 30 wt % or less of C 5 + compounds, wherein the olefin-containing feed comprises about 20 wt % or less of C 5 + olefinic compounds, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the olefin-containing feed comprises C 1 -C 4  hydrocarbon compounds, at least a portion of the C 1 -C 4  hydrocarbon compounds comprising C 2 -C 4  olefins, a weight percentage of the C 2 -C 4  olefins relative to the weight of the olefin-containing feed being at least about 10 wt % lower than a weight percentage of the C 1 -C 4  hydrocarbon compounds. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least about 70 wt % of the olefins present in the olefin-containing feed are incorporated into C 10+  compounds present in the product effluent. 
     
     
         14 . A diesel boiling range effluent comprising at least about 50 wt % C 10+  oligomerized compounds, the C 10+  oligomerized compounds being formed by oligomerization of C 2-5  olefins. 
     
     
         15 . The diesel boiling range effluent of  claim 14 , wherein the diesel boiling range effluent comprises at least about 50 wt % C 10+  olefins. 
     
     
         16 . The diesel boiling range effluent of  claim 15 , wherein the at least about 50 wt % C 10+  olefins comprise oligomerized olefins formed by oligomerization of C 2-5  olefins. 
     
     
         17 . The diesel boiling range effluent of  claim 14 , wherein the at least about 50 wt % C 10+  oligomerized compounds incorporate at least about 50 wt % of C 2-5  olefins present in a feed for the oligomerization of the C 2-5  olefins. 
     
     
         18 . A system for converting an olefin-containing feed to diesel boiling range compounds, comprising:
 a fluidized bed reactor comprising a fluidized bed of an acidic molecular sieve, the fluidized bed being fluidized with an olefin-containing feed comprising C 1 -C 4  hydrocarbon compounds, the olefin-containing feed having an olefin content of at least about 10 wt %, the bed being fluidized at a pressure of about 50 psig (0.3 MPa) to about 250 psig (1.7 MPa) and a temperature of about 550° F. (288° C.) to about 800° F. (427° C.);   a separator in fluid communication with the fluidized bed reactor for performing a separation on an effluent from the fluidized bed reactor; and   a fixed bed reactor in fluid communication with the separator to receive a separated fraction comprising C 5 + olefinic compounds, the fixed bed reactor comprising a fixed bed of a second acidic molecular sieve, the fixed bed reactor having a pressure of about 300 psig (2.1 MPa) to about 1500 psig (10.3 MPa) and a temperature of from about 550° F. (288° C.) to about 700° F. (371° C.).   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the fixed bed of a second acidic molecular sieve comprises the same molecular sieve as the fluidized bed of an acidic molecular sieve. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein at least one of the fluidized bed of an acidic molecular sieve and the fixed bed of a second acidic molecular sieve comprises a zeolite, the zeolite optionally comprising a 10-member ring zeolite.