Dimersol X process

Application The Dimersol-X process transforms butenes to octenes, which are ultimately used in the manufacture of plasticizers via iso-nonanol (isononyl alcohol) and diisononyl phthalate units. 

Description Butenes enter the Dimersol-X process, which comprises three sections. In the reactor section, dimerization takes place in multiple liquid-phase reactors (1) using homogeneous catalysis and an efficient recycle mixing system. The catalyst is generated in situ by the reaction of components injected in the recycle loop. The catalyst in the reactor effluent is deactivated in the neutralization section and separated (2). The stabilization section (3) separates unreacted olefin monomer and saturates from product dimers while the second column (4) separates the octenes. A third column can be added to separate dodecenes. 

Description Butenes enter the Dimersol-X process, which comprises three sections. In the reactor section, dimerization takes place in multiple liquid-phase reactors (1) using homogeneous catalysis and an efficient recycle mixing system. The catalyst is generated in situ by... 

The Dimersol X process has been developed to produce octenes as raw material for isononanol manufacture via 0x0 reaction. 

The Difasol catalyst is concentrated and operates in the ionic phase, or maybe at the phase boundary. The reaction volume is therefore much lower than in the conventional one-phase Dimersol process, where the catalyst concentration is very low. The Difasol reactor volume can be downscaled 15-fold compared to the classical one-phase Dimersol-X process. 

Olefine dimerization by DifasoF process, a biphasic analogue of the Dimersol-X process... 

The Institut Fran ais du Petrole has developed and commercialized a process, named Dimersol X, based on a homogeneous catalyst, which selectively produces dimers from butenes. The low-branching octenes produced are good starting materials for isononanol production. This process is catalyzed by a system based on a nickel(II) salt, soluble in a paraffinic hydrocarbon, activated with an alkylalumini-um chloride derivative directly inside the dimerization reactor. The reaction is sec-... 

Dimersol X A process for dimerizing mixed butenes to mixed octenes. Selective hydrogenation, catalyzed by a soluble Ziegler catalyst, is used. The spent catalyst is discarded. The process was developed by IFP and first operated at Kashima, Japan, in 1980. BASF has used the process in Ludwigshafen since 1985. 

Typical process Alphabutol HjPO Octol Dimersol X... 

The butene conversion level is highly dependent on its initial concentration. For instance, today commercial Dimersol-X technology achieves 80% conversion of butenes with up to 85% octene selectivity. A process flow diagram is depicted in Figure 1. The reaction takes place at low temperature (40-60 °C) in three or four consecutive well-mixed reactors. The pressure of 1.5 MPa is sufficient to maintain all reactants and products in the liquid state. Mixing and heat removal are ensured by an external recirculation loop over a heat exchanger system. The two components of the catalytic system are injected separately into this reaction loop under precise flow control. The residence time is between 5 and 10 h. 

IFP [(Institut Francais du Petrole)—Axens] was the first to operate an ionic liquid pilot plant [43]. Since the mid-1970s, IFP developed the Dimersol process (Dimersol-G, and -X) that upgrades light olefins by dimerization (respectively, propene and butenes) to the more valuable branched hexenes and octenes, respectively in high yield (Figs. 20.16 and 20.17) [44]. 

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