Abstract: The object of the invention is to specify a process with which both C5 and C9 aldehydes can be produced economically. Here, the process should be able to to be supplied with the lowest possible dependence on raw material suppliers and also should be able to react flexibly to fluctuations in demand with respect to C5 and C9 aldehydes. The use of resources should also be optimized. The process proposed uses LPG or NGL as raw material. The process according to the invention essentially differs from known LPG-based processes in that the intermediate obtained, after dehydrogenation and removal of by-products, is divided into two portions. C9 aldehyde is produced from the first portion by oligomerization and hydroformylation while C5 aldehyde is obtained by hydroformylation of the second portion. This has the critical advantage that it is possible to divide the intermediate flexibly into the two portions so that either more C5 or more C9 aldehydes can be produced depending on the respective demand.

Abstract: A process for dehydrating alkanes in which such feedstock mixtures may be used having a high proportion of olefins, i.e. approximately 1% by weight to 10% by weight. Specifically, alkenes having two to five carbon atoms are generated from alkanes having the same carbon length where the number of carbon atoms not change during by the dehydrogenation. The process is intended to be feasible on an industrial scale. A basic concept of the invention consists of hydrogenating alkenes present in the feedstock to the corresponding alkanes before they come in contact with the dehydrogenation catalyst. This avoids an undesired coke deposit. The hydrogenation is effected by minimal addition of hydrogen (80% to 120% of the stoichiometrically required amount). The hydrogenation is effected either over a dehydrogenation catalyst, or over the dehydrogenation catalyst itself.

Abstract: The invention is concerned with the production of 1-hexene and octenes from ethene. 1-Butene is optionally also to be produced. The problem addressed by the present invention is that of developing a process for producing 1-hexene from ethene by MTHxE etherification to achieve better chemical utilization of the employed carbon atoms. This problem is solved by catalytic retrocleavage of MTHxE into the C6 olefins and the alcohol, reuse of the alcohol in the etherification and reaction of the obtained C6 olefins with ethene to afford C8 olefins. In this way the alcohol is not lost from the process but rather is internally recirculated as a derivatizing agent. The less attractive C6 olefins from the cleavage product are upgraded to octene with further ethene in order to provide a further commercial product.

Abstract: The disclosure describes the oligomerization of supercritical ethene. An essential aspect of the invention is that of mixing ethene with an inert medium and setting the conditions in the reaction such that both ethene and the inert medium are supercritical. This is because the solubility for ethene in the inert medium is greater in the supercritical state, such that more ethene is dissolved in the supercritical inert medium than in a liquid solvent. The process regime in the supercritical state therefore enables the use of a much higher proportion of ethene in a homogeneous mixture of ethene and inert medium than is possible on the basis of the thermodynamic solubility restriction in a purely liquid hydrocarbon stream. In this way, the space-time yield is distinctly enhanced. Since a greater amount of ethene can be passed into the reactor, it is possible as a result to better exploit the apparatus volume compared to a liquid phase process. The inert medium used may, for example, be isobutane.

Abstract: In a process for the epoxidation of an olefin, where a mixture comprising olefin, hydrogen peroxide, water and methanol with a weight ratio of water to methanol of less than 1 is passed through a catalyst fixed bed comprising a shaped titanium silicalite catalyst, catalyst breakage is reduced by conditioning the dry catalyst with at least one conditioning liquid comprising water and from 25 to 45% by weight methanol.

Abstract: The invention relates to a catalyst system for oligomerizing olefins over a catalyst comprising nickel, to the use of this catalyst and to a method for dimerizing olefins.

Abstract: The invention relates to a process for preparing an ester mixture, in which an n-butene-containing feed mixture having a composition which changes over time is first oligomerized and then converted by hydroformylation, hydrogenation and esterification to an ester mixture. In this process, an approximation of the actual viscosity of the ester mixture is determined. The problem that it addresses is that of specifying a comparatively simple process which enables conversion of an n-butene with a variable composition over time to an ester mixture having a viscosity which can be kept very substantially constant over a long period even when an inconstant C4 source which delivers fluctuating qualities over this period is utilized. This is achieved through controlled use of a second raw material, namely ethene. It has been found that the viscosity of n-butene-based ester mixtures can be influenced by controlled use of ethene in the preparation of the ester precursors.

Abstract: The invention relates to a process for preparing an ester mixture, in which an n-butene-containing feed mixture having a composition which changes over time is first oligomerized and then converted by hydroformylation, hydrogenation and esterification to an ester mixture. In this process, an approximation of the actual viscosity of the ester mixture is determined. The problem that it addresses is that of specifying a comparatively simple process which enables conversion of an n-butene with a variable composition over time to an ester mixture having a viscosity which can be kept very substantially constant over a long period even when an inconstant C4 source which delivers fluctuating qualities over this period is utilized. This is achieved through controlled use of a second raw material, namely ethene. It has been found that the viscosity of n-butene-based ester mixtures can be influenced by controlled use of ethene in the preparation of the ester precursors.

Abstract: The object of the invention is to specify a process for dehydrogenating alkanes in which such feedstock mixtures may be used having a high proportion of olefins, i.e. approximately 1% by weight to 10% by weight. Specifically, alkenes having two to five carbon atoms should be generated from alkanes having the same chain length and therefore the number of carbon atoms should not be changed by the dehydrogenation. The process is intended to be feasible on an industrial scale. A basic concept of the invention consists of hydrogenating alkenes present in the feedstock mixture to the corresponding alkanes before they come into contact with the dehydrogenation catalyst. An undesired coke deposit is thus avoided. The hydrogenation is effected by minimal addition of hydrogen (80% to 120% of the stoichiometrically required amount).

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for cleaning hydrocarbon mixtures, in which a contaminated hydrocarbon mixture comprising hydrocarbons having three to eight carbon atoms is at least partly freed of impurities by contacting with a solid sorbent, wherein the hydrocarbon mixture is exclusively in the liquid state during contact with the sorbent. The object of the invention is to specify a process for cleaning liquid C3 to C8 hydrocarbon mixtures, which is based on a readily available but non-carcinogenic sorbent and which achieves better purities compared to traditional molecular sieves. This object is achieved by using, as sorbents, solid materials of the following composition: copper oxide: 10% to 60% by weight (calculated as CuO); zinc oxide: 10% to 60% by weight (calculated as ZnO); aluminum oxide: 10% to 30% by weight (calculated as Al2O3); other substances: 0% to 5% by weight. Materials of this kind are otherwise used as catalysts in methanol synthesis.

Abstract: The object of the invention is to specify a process with which both C5 and C9 aldehydes can be produced economically. Here, the process should be able to to be supplied with the lowest possible dependence on raw material suppliers and also should be able to react flexibly to fluctuations in demand with respect to C5 and C9 aldehydes. The use of resources should also be optimized. The process proposed uses LPG or NGL as raw material. The process according to the invention essentially differs from known LPG-based processes in that the intermediate obtained, after dehydrogenation and removal of by-products, is divided into two portions. C9 aldehyde is produced from the first portion by oligomerization and hydroformylation while C5 aldehyde is obtained by hydroformylation of the second portion. This has the critical advantage that it is possible to divide the intermediate flexibly into the two portions so that either more C5 or more C9 aldehydes can be produced depending on the respective demand.

Abstract: The preparation of high-quality oxo process alcohols from inconstant raw material sources is the technically demanding problem which is addressed by a process for continuously preparing an alcohol mixture, in which an input mixture which contains an olefin and has a composition that changes over time is subjected to an oligomerization to obtain an oligomerizate and at least a portion of the olefin oligomers present in the oligomerizate are hydroformylated with carbon monoxide and hydrogen in a hydroformylation in the presence of a homogeneous catalyst system to give aldehydes, at least some of which are converted to the alcohol mixture by subsequent hydrogenation. The process provides a constant plasticizer quality to be produced over a long production period and, optionally, a higher throughput with the same product quality.

Abstract: The invention is concerned with the production of 1-hexene and octenes from ethene. 1-Butene is optionally also to be produced. The problem addressed by the present invention is that of developing a process for producing 1-hexene from ethene by MTHxE etherification to achieve better chemical utilization of the employed carbon atoms. This problem is solved by catalytic retrocleavage of MTHxE into the C6 olefins and the alcohol, reuse of the alcohol in the etherification and reaction of the obtained C6 olefins with ethene to afford C8 olefins. In this way the alcohol is not lost from the process but rather is internally recirculated as a derivatizing agent. The less attractive C6 olefins from the cleavage product are upgraded to octene with further ethene in order to provide a further commercial product.

Abstract: The invention relates to the in situ regeneration of heterogeneous oligomerization catalysts which are used in the liquid phase oligomerization of ethene.

Abstract: The invention is concerned with the oligomerization of supercritical ethene. An essential aspect of the invention is that of mixing ethene with an inert medium and setting the conditions in the reaction such that both ethene and inert medium are supercritical. This is because the solubility for ethene in the inert medium is greater in the supercritical state, such that more ethene is dissolved in the supercritical inert medium than in a liquid solvent. The process regime in the supercritical state therefore enables the use of a much higher proportion of ethene in a homogeneous mixture of ethene and inert medium than is possible on the basis of the thermodynamic solubility restriction in a purely liquid hydrocarbon stream. In this way, the space-time yield is distinctly enhanced. Since a greater amount of ethene can be passed into the reactor, it is possible as a result to better exploit the apparatus volume compared to a liquid phase process. The inert medium used may, for example, be isobutane.

Abstract: In a process for the epoxidation of an olefin, where a mixture comprising olefin, hydrogen peroxide, water and methanol with a weight ratio of water to methanol of less than 1 is passed through a catalyst fixed bed comprising a shaped titanium silicalite catalyst, catalyst breakage is reduced by conditioning the dry catalyst with at least one conditioning liquid comprising water and from 25 to 45% by weight methanol.

Abstract: An OCTOL process is disclosed which by limitation of the conversion in its individual oligomerization steps is set up particularly for the productive utilization of C4 feedstock mixtures with a low 1-butene content and which nevertheless yields a C8 product mixture having an Iso index suitable for the preparation of plasticizer alcohols.

Abstract: The invention relates to a process for preparing an ester mixture, in which an n-butene-containing feed mixture having a composition which changes over time is first oligomerized and then converted by hydroformylation, hydrogenation and esterification to an ester mixture. In this process, an approximation of the actual viscosity of the ester mixture is determined. The problem that it addresses is that of specifying a comparatively simple process which enables conversion of an n-butene with a variable composition over time to an ester mixture having a viscosity which can be kept very substantially constant over a long period even when an inconstant C4 source which delivers fluctuating qualities over this period is utilized. This is achieved through controlled use of a second raw material, namely ethene. It has been found that the viscosity of n-butene-based ester mixtures can be influenced by controlled use of ethene in the preparation of the ester precursors.

Abstract: The invention relates to processes for preparing aldehydes by hydroformylation of alkenes, in which an alkene-containing feed mixture is subjected to a primary hydroformylation with synthesis gas in the presence of a homogeneous catalyst system, the primary hydroformylation being effected in a primary reaction zone from which a cycle gas containing at least some of the products and unconverted reactants of the primary hydroformylation are drawn off continuously and partly condensed, with recycling of uncondensed components of the cycle gas into the primary reaction zone, and with distillative separation of condensed components of the cycle gas in an aldehyde removal stage to give an aldehyde-rich mixture and a low-aldehyde mixture. The problem that it addresses is that of developing the process such that it achieves high conversions and affords aldehyde in good product quality even in the case of a deteriorating raw material position.

Abstract: The invention relates to a process for purifying hydrocarbon mixtures, in which a contaminated hydrocarbon mixture comprising olefins having three to eight carbon atoms is at least partly freed of sulphur-containing contaminants by contacting it with a solid sorbent, the hydrocarbon mixture being exclusively in the liquid state during the contact with the sorbent. The problem that it addressed was that of virtually completely removing sulphur compounds present in the mixture without forming new sulphur compounds again at the same time. At the same time, 1-butene present therein was not to be lost in the purification of the mixture. Finally, the sorbent used was to have a high sorption capacity, be very substantially free of carcinogenic constituents and be readily available. This problem is solved by using a sorbent based on copper oxide, zinc oxide and aluminium oxide in a particular composition, and by conducting the purification in the presence of a small amount of hydrogen.