To reduce olefinic content in either a heavy reformate feed or an aromatic extract feed using ExxonMobil Chemical’s Olgone process.
Olgone is an alternative solution to clay treating that is used to reduce olefins content and thus, lower the Bromine Index (BI) of heavy reformate and aromatic extract streams. In this process, a stream of either mixed xylenes, benzene/toluene or a combination of each is preheated in a feed heater (1). The stream is then sent to a liquid-phase reactor (2) containing the ExxonMobil proprietary EM-1800 catalyst. Similar to a clay treater system, a typical Olgone treater system consists of two vessels with one in service and one in standby mode (3).
The primary reaction is the acid-catalyzed alkylation of an aromatic molecule with an olefin, resulting in the formation of a heavy aromatic compound. The heavy aromatic compound is then fractionated out of the low BI liquid product downstream of the Olgone reactor (4). The catalyst used in the Olgone process exhibits a BI capacity typically six times greater than conventional clay.
Operating conditions: The Olgone process is essentially a drop-in replacement for clay treating. Olgone operates at temperatures and pressures similar to clay operations, sufficient to keep the feed in the liquid state. The catalyst offers long uninterrupted operating cycles and can be regenerated multiple times.
Economics: By virtue of the Olgone technology’s very long cycles and reuse via regeneration, solid waste can be reduced by greater than 90% and clay waste can be reduced by 100% where Olgone is deployed in its catalyst-only configuration. The user enjoys both disposal cost reductions and tremendous environmental benefits. Operating costs are significantly lowered by less frequent unloading/reloading events, and downstream units are better protected from BI excursions due to the technology’s enhanced capacity for olefins removal. Olgone also provides a potential debottleneck for units limited by short clay treater cycles.
Licensor: ExxonMobil Chemical Technology Licensing LLC
