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| 20130158302 | Phasing Reactor Product from Hydrogenating Acetic Acid Into Ethyl Acetate Feed to Produce Ethanol - Disclosed herein are processes for alcohol production by reducing ethyl acetate produced by hydrogenating acetic acid in the presence of a suitable catalyst. The product of the acetic acid hydrogenation is fed directly to a decanter to separate the hydrogenation product into an aqueous phase comprising water and ethanol and an organic phase comprising ethyl acetate. The organic phase is reduced with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst to obtain a crude reaction mixture comprising the alcohol, in particular ethanol, which may be separated from the crude reaction mixture. Thus, ethanol may be produced from acetic acid through an ethyl acetate intermediate without an esterification step. This may reduce the recycle of ethanol in the hydrogenolysis process and improve ethanol productivity. | 06-20-2013 |
| 20140142349 | PROCESS FOR PRODUCING ETHANOL FROM METHYL ACETATE - The present invention relates to a process for producing ethanol by methyl acetate hydrogenolysis. The process comprises the step of reacting carbon monoxide and methanol in a reaction medium to form a reaction solution that comprises acetic acid and from 0.5 to 25 wt. % methyl acetate. The process further comprises the step of esterifying the acetic acid and feeding the methyl acetate to a distillation column to remove alkyl halides. The process further comprises the steps of reacting the methyl acetate stream that does not contain alkyl halides and hydrogen in the presence of a second catalyst to form an alcohol product that comprises ethanol and/or methanol. | 05-22-2014 |
| 20140142351 | Combined Column for Separating Products of Different Hydrogenation Reactors - Recovery of ethanol from a crude product comprising ethyl acetate obtained from the hydrogenation of acetic acid. The crude product is separated to form an organic stream that may be subjected to hydrogenolysis to form ethanol. The organic phase may comprise ethyl acetate is reacted via hydrogenolysis form ethanol that may be directly or indirectly fed to the separation zone or the hydrogenation reactor. | 05-22-2014 |
| 20150133701 | Integrated Steam Methane Reformer and Hydrogenation of Acetic Acid to Produce Ethanol - A process is disclosed for integrating a steam methane reformer to produce hydrogen that is used for converting acetic acid and/or ethyl acetate to ethanol. The process may use a methane-containing stream obtained from a stranded natural gas or associated gas source. The process water from the hydrogenation reaction is used to saturate the methane-containing stream. The process water comprises water and oxygenates, wherein the maximum amount of oxygenates is less than or equal to 10 wt. %. Processes for integrating fuel sources, steam and electricity are also disclosed. | 05-14-2015 |
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| 20130143972 | BIOMASS GASIFICATION AND INTEGRATED PROCESSES FOR MAKING INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS THROUGH AN ACETIC ACID INTERMEDIATE - The invention relates to integrated processes for producing industrial chemicals, such as alcohols, carboxylic acids, esters, aldehydes, olefins and polymers from biomass. In one embodiment, the invention is to a process comprising the steps of (a) introducing biomass and an oxygen stream to a gasifier and converting the biomass into a product gas, wherein the gasifier is operated at a pressure of at least 10 bar; (b) compressing the product gas at a compression ratio that is less than 5:1 to form compressed product gas; (c) directing a first portion of the compressed product gas to an alcohol synthesis reactor to produce methanol; (d) directing a second portion of the compressed product gas to a gas separator to produce a hydrogen stream and a carbon monoxide stream; (e) reacting the carbon monoxide stream with the methanol to produce acetic acid; and (f) reacting the hydrogen stream with acetic acid to produce ethanol. | 06-06-2013 |
| 20130143973 | BIOMASS GASIFICATION AND INTEGRATED PROCESSES FOR MAKING INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS THROUGH AN ESTER INTERMEDIATE - The invention relates to integrated processes for producing industrial chemicals, such as alcohols, carboxylic acids, esters, aldehydes, olefins and polymers from biomass. In one embodiment, the invention is to a process comprising the steps of: introducing biomass and an oxygen stream to a gasifier and converting the biomass into a product gas, wherein the gasifier is operated at a pressure of at least 10 bar; compressing the product gas at a compression ratio that is less than 3:1 to form a compressed product gas; directing a first portion of the compressed product gas to an alcohol synthesis reactor to produce methanol; reacting carbon monoxide with the methanol to produce acetic acid; esterifying the acetic acid with ethanol to form ethyl acetate; and reducing the ethyl acetate with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst to form ethanol. | 06-06-2013 |
