Abstract: A method of producing a highly-pure aluminum hydroxide, comprising the following steps: (1) reacting alcohol with metal aluminum to produce aluminum alkoxide, then hydrolyzing the aluminum alkoxide with water to produce an aluminum hydroxide slurry and an alcohol, filtering the aluminum hydroxide slurry, washing a resulting filter cake with water to remove the alcohol trapped therein, and drying the filter cake after the water washing to produce an aluminum hydroxide powder, (2) sending the alcohol-containing water produced in step (1) to an alcohol extraction unit for separating water and alcohol through extraction, and sending the separated water back to step (1) for recycling, (3) dehydrating the hydrous alcohol produced by hydrolyzing the aluminum alkoxide in step (1) before using it as the raw materials for reacting metal aluminum with alcohol to produce aluminum alkoxide in step (1).

Abstract: A combined reactor and condenser for the synthesis of urea from ammonia and carbon dioxide, including a condenser section coupled to a reaction section, comprising inputs directed to said condenser section for a gaseous stream comprising ammonia and carbon dioxide and for a solution containing ammonium carbamate and liquid ammonia, and wherein the effluent of the condenser section is sent to the reaction section; the reaction section comprises a plurality of compartments and a plurality of mixers, at least one inside each of said compartments.

Abstract: Systems and methods for removing solids from a process stream being fed into a flash separator include a solids fluidization device and a solids removal device. The solids fluidization device at the bottom end of the fluid column of the flash separator introduces a swirling motive fluid within the fluid column, while the solids removal device located above the solids fluidization device removes the slurry created by the swirling motive fluid. Systems and methods for fluidizing solids in the fluid column of a flash separator include a solids fluidization device that introduces a swirling motive fluid within the fluid column, means to limit the upward movement of the swirling motive fluid, such as a valve, and removing the solid slurry produced by the swirling motive fluid.

Abstract: Dual stripper column arrangements are described in which hot flash drum liquid is sent to one column and cold flash drum liquid is sent to a second column. Methods of operating the dual stripper column apparatus are also described.

Abstract: A two-stage reactor is disclosed for the conversion of solid particulate biomass material. The reactor is designed to maximize conversion of the solid biomass material, while limiting excess cracking of primary reaction products. The two-stage reactor comprises a first stage reactor, in which solid biomass material is thermally pyrolyzed to primary reaction products. The primary reaction products are catalytically converted in a second stage reactor.

Abstract: A gas-to-liquids process and plant for treating natural gas, in which the natural gas is subjected to expansion through a flow restrictor so as to undergo cooling through the Joule Thomson effect, enables liquids to be separated from the gas stream. The natural gas may be cooled before it reaches the flow restrictor by heat exchange with fluid that has passed through the flow restrictor. This decreases the proportion of longer-chain hydrocarbons in the natural gas, which may simplify subsequent processing, and may enable the size of the plant to be decreased.

Abstract: An apparatus is disclosed for recovering hydroprocessing effluent from a hydroprocessing unit utilizing a hot stripper and a cold stripper. Only the hot hydroprocessing effluent is heated in a fired heater prior to product fractionation, resulting in substantial operating and capital savings.

Abstract: A process and apparatus are disclosed for hydrotreating a hydrocarbon feed in a hydrotreating unit and hydrocracking a second hydrocarbon stream in a hydrocracking unit. The hydrocracking unit and the hydrotreating unit may share the same recycle gas compressor. A make-up hydrogen stream may also be compressed in the recycle gas compressor. The second hydrocarbon stream may be a diesel stream from the hydrotreating unit. The diesel stream may be a diesel and heavier stream from a bottom of a hydrotreating fractionation column.

Abstract: A hot stripped hydroprocessed stream from a stripper column may be sent directly to a vacuum fractionation column instead of being first processed in an atmospheric fractionation column. If a separate warm stripper column is used, both the warm stripped stream and a hot stripped stream may be fractionated in the same fractionation column, particularly a vacuum fractionation column.

Abstract: A carbonylation process for producing acetic acid including: (a) carbonylating methanol or its reactive derivatives in the presence of a Group VIII metal catalyst and methyl iodide promoter to produce a liquid reaction mixture including acetic acid, water, methyl acetate and methyl iodide; (b) feeding the liquid reaction mixture at a feed temperature to a flash vessel which is maintained at a reduced pressure; (c) heating the flash vessel while concurrently flashing the reaction mixture to produce a crude product vapor stream, wherein the reaction mixture is selected and the flow rate of the reaction mixture fed to the flash vessel as well as the amount of heat supplied to the flash vessel is controlled such that the temperature of the crude product vapor stream is maintained at a temperature less than 90° F.

Abstract: An apparatus is disclosed for recovering hydroprocessing effluent from a hydroprocessing unit utilizing a hot stripper and a cold stripper. The cold stripper and the hot stripper utilize a common overhead recovery apparatus.

Abstract: An apparatus is disclosed for recovering hydroprocessing effluent from a hydroprocessing unit utilizing a hot stripper and a cold stripper. A net overhead stream from the hot stripper is forwarded to the cold stripper for further stripping. The invention is particularly suitable for hydrotreating residue feed streams. The hot stripped stream may be subjected to fluid catalytic cracking. The apparatus and process eliminates the need for a fired heater in the product recovery unit.

Abstract: An apparatus is disclosed for recovering hydroprocessing effluent from a hydroprocessing unit utilizing a hot stripper and a cold stripper. The cold stripper and the hot stripper are contained in the same vessel. A barrier prevents material from the hot stripper from entering into the cold stripper.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a process and a plant for the treatment of the vented gas mixture from a deaerator of a steam production process associated with a hydrocarbon-reforming syngas production process.

Abstract: Method for the production of a coarse-grained ammonium sulphate product by crystallization and installation for carrying out the method from an ammonium sulphate solution in a DTB type crystallizer having an internal suspension circuit and a clarifying zone, from which a clarified partial flow of solution is constantly drawn off into an external circuit, is heated in a heat exchanger to dissolve the solids contained therein and is guided back as a clear solution into the lower region of the crystallizer. A fine crystal suspension flow is drawn off from the clarifying zone as a further partial flow and guided back into the internal circuit of the crystallization stage without any previous dissolution of the solid proportion contained therein.

Abstract: A staged fluidized catalytic cracker and method for cracking a hydrocarbonaceous material includes a plurality of staged reactors that have catalyst particles flowing in series from one reactor to the next and hydrocarbon feed that is delivered in parallel to the reactors. Between each reactor the partially spent catalyst is actively stripped to partially reactivate the catalyst. Once the catalyst is fully spent in the final reactor the catalyst can be oxidatively regenerated.

Abstract: A stripper (SN) for carbamate decomposition and ammonia plus carbon dioxide recovery from a urea solution (U) is realized with a shell-and-tube heat exchanger, where a liquid falling film of urea solution and a counter-current gaseous flow of a stripping medium fed to a bundle of surface-heated tubes (6); the stripping medium such as carbon dioxide is distributed into the tubes (6) by a plurality of gas risers (32); the gas risers are preferably associated to a perforated tray (30) in the bottom chamber (11) of the stripper. Revamping of a conventional CO2 stripper is also disclosed.

Abstract: The present embodiments are directed towards heat integration in gas processing units. In one embodiment, a system is provided that includes a gas processing section. The gas processing section has a gas path, a first shift reactor disposed along the gas path, wherein the first shift reactor is configured to perform a first shift reaction to produce a first shifted gas. A second shift reactor is also disposed along the gas path downstream from the first shift reactor, wherein the second shift reactor is configured to perform a second shift reaction to produce a second shifted gas. A first steam generator is disposed along the gas path between the first and second shift reactors, wherein the first steam generator is configured to transfer heat away from the gas path to generate a first steam.

Abstract: A method of removing alkalinity and salt from a nitroaromatic product downstream of water washing to remove mineral acids and alkaline washing to remove salts of organic acids, comprises washing the product stream with an acidic aqueous solution, prior to the step of removing excess organic reactant, by steam stripping or distillation. Acid removed from the stripper or column is recycled back for use in the acidic washing. The acidic washing is done instead of the neutral washing step of the prior art. It removes residual salt and decreases the level of entrained colloidal water in the nitroaromatic product.

Abstract: A two-stage reactor is disclosed for the conversion of solid particulate biomass material. The reactor is designed to maximize conversion of the solid biomass material, while limiting excess cracking of primary reaction products. The two-stage reactor comprises a first stage reactor, in which solid biomass material is thermally pyrolyzed to primary reaction products. The primary reaction products are catalytically converted in a second stage reactor.

Abstract: Processes and systems are disclosed that relate to the removal of impurities and separation the light olefins from an MTO product vapor stream. Specifically, the processes and systems relate to recovery of light olefins during regeneration of an adsorber in an oxygenate removal unit. Processes and systems for recovering light olefins during regeneration of an adsorber in an oxygenate removal unit can include recycling residual effluent stream to an upstream operation unit upstream of the oxygenate removal unit. Processes and systems for recovering light olefins during regeneration of an adsorber in an oxygenate removal unit can also include recycling residual effluent gas produced by depressurizing residual effluent in the first adsorber, as well as preferably venting an effluent gas from the first adsorber to a compressor upstream of the oxygenate removal unit.

Abstract: A gas treatment apparatus for treating a gas by bringing the gas into contact with a treatment liquid. The gas treatment apparatus includes a gas-liquid contact chamber for a gas-liquid contact of the gas with the treatment liquid, a storage chamber, located over the gas-liquid contact chamber, for storing the treatment liquid, and a treatment liquid supplying unit for supplying the treatment liquid stored in the storage chamber to an inside of the gas-liquid contact chamber with a gravity-drop.

Abstract: Processing schemes and arrangements are provided for obtaining propylene and propane via the catalytic cracking of a heavy hydrocarbon feedstock and converting the propylene into cumene without separating the propane from the propane/propylene feed stream. The disclosed processing schemes and arrangements advantageously eliminate any separation of propylene from propane produced by a FCC process prior to using the combined propane/propane stream as a feed for a cumene alkylation process. A bottoms stream from the cumene column of the cumene alkylation process can be used and an absorption solvent in the FCC process thereby eliminating the need for a transalkylation reactor and a DIPB/TIPB column.

Abstract: The invention relates to a process for the production of alkylated aromatic compounds comprising introducing olefin and aromatic compounds into at least first and second vertically spaced catalytic reaction zones in an alkylation unit under alkylation reaction conditions to provide an alkylated product, wherein the second catalytic reaction zone is positioned above the first catalytic reaction zone; wherein aromatic compound from each of the at least first and second catalytic reaction zones are contacted with a cooling means for re-condensing at least a portion of the aromatic compounds vaporized from the exothermic heat of reaction of the alkylation process; and wherein the olefin is introduced into the at least first and second catalytic reaction zones via respective first and second olefin feed streams at respective olefin feed rates such as to maintain olefin partial pressures at inlets to at least first and second catalytic reaction zones which vary by less than about ten percent.

Abstract: Tar is contacted with stripping agent, such as steam or tail gas, in a stripping tower. A product comprising deasphalted tar is recovered as overheads and a product comprising heavy tar is recovered as bottoms from the stripping tower.

Abstract: This invention relates to a process for cracking hydrocarbon feedstock containing resid comprising: (a) heating a hydrocarbon feedstock containing resid; (b) adding molecular hydrogen to said heated feedstock to form a mixture stream; (c) adding a catalyst containing metal-sulfide particles to said heated feedstock and/or said mixture stream; (d) reacting said mixture in a catalytic hydrovisbreaking reactor under conditions of temperature, pressure and residence time sufficient to catalytically hydrovisbreak at least a portion of said resid into hydrovisbroken hydrocarbon components; (e) passing said reacted mixture stream into a high pressure separator and separating hydrogen from said reacted mixture; (f) passing said reacted mixture through a knockout drum to remove catalyst and unreacted or uncracked resid as a bottoms stream; and (g) passing said catalytically hydrovisbroken hydrocarbon components into a steam cracking furnace and thermally cracking said hydrocarbon components to form light olefins, a

Abstract: A mercury removal apparatus for a liquid hydrocarbon includes a conversion device which converts a mercury component in a raw liquid hydrocarbon into elemental mercury to obtain a first liquid hydrocarbon containing the elemental mercury. The apparatus also includes a first stripping device which brings the first liquid hydrocarbon into counter-current contact with a first stripping gas, thereby transferring the elemental mercury in the first liquid hydrocarbon to the first stripping gas to obtain (i) a second liquid hydrocarbon in which the amount of the elemental mercury decreases and (ii) a first gaseous hydrocarbon containing the elemental mercury.

Abstract: Processing schemes and arrangements are provided for obtaining ethylene and ethane via the catalytic cracking of a heavy hydrocarbon feedstock and converting the ethylene into ethyl benzene without separating the ethane from the feed stream. The disclosed processing schemes and arrangements advantageously eliminate any separation of ethylene from ethane produced by a FCC process prior to using the combined ethylene/ethane stream as a feed for an ethyl benzene process. Further, heat from the alkylation reactor is used for one of the strippers of the FCC process and at least one bottoms stream from alkylation process is used as an absorption solvent in the FCC process.

Abstract: Described herein are systems and processes for the transesterification of a variety of feedstocks, such as in the form of glyceride-containing vegetable oils, glyceride-containing animal oils, and glyceride-containing algal oils, into biodiesel products using solid, heterogeneous catalysts.

Abstract: The invention relates to the use of biomethanol from the pulp industry in the production of biohydrogen. The preferred biomethanol comprises purified biomethanol derived from black liquor. The invention also relates to a process for the production of biohydrogen from crude biomethanol recovered from black liquor and to a process for producing hydrocarbon biofuel using such biohydrogen as a hydrogen source. The invention further relates to a biofuel production facility for producing fuel from biohydrogen and biohydrocarbon, and to biofuel so produced. The invention makes it possible to produce a biofuel, wherein 100% of the raw material stems from non-fossil sources.