Feedstock research

As in the US, member nations of the European Community will introduce further specifications for transportation fuels over the next few years. Besides other components, the sulfur content of transportation fuels and gasoline in particular will be limited.FCC gasoline can contribute up to 90% of the sulfur in the gasoline pool. The parameters thatcontrol the sulfur levels in gasoline have been described by various authors in the past. The main determinant of sulfur levels in the FCC gasoline is the feedstock. Researchers found that the reactions that converted the feed sulfur compounds in the FCCU were kinetically controlled and were dominated more by catalyst contact time than by catalyst-to-oil ratio [1]. 

After World War II, when the big oil companies installed a large number of refineries in industriahzed countries, lower olefins, particularly ethylene, became available in large quantities. Chemical companies replaced successively their acetylene-based processes for the production of aliphatic C2, C4, and C3 compounds by much cheaper processes with ethylene as the feedstock. Researchers of the Consortium fiir elektrochemische Industrie GmbH, the research organization of Wacker Chemie GmbH, succeeded in finding a new process for the manufacture of the important industrial intermediate acetaldehyde from ethylene [1, 2]. 

Technology development for the production of alkylates has been largely focused on LAB with most of the development in processes that utilize kerosene as the raw material to produce n-paraffin feedstock. Research and development efforts have been focusing on the process technology, as well as the catalysts and adsorbents used in the processes. 

Research continues to explore the HT of bio-oil produced from new biomass feedstocks. Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have reported several related investigations including the use of the phase-separated heavy less-aqueous fraction from bio-oU for production of liquid fuels and low-sidfur coke (Elliott et al., 2013a), bio-oU produced from mountain-pine-beetle-killed trees and hog fuel (Zacher et al., 2014), and the extractant-rich top phase from softwood pyrolysis (Elliott et al., 2012). Another study evaluated the HT of a bio-oU feedstock which was a phenolic oil recovered by fractionating and washing fast pyrolysis bio-oil (Elliott et al., 2015). 

As part of the research described in Fig. 7.5, Winston and Wichacheewaf measured the percentages of carbon and chlorine in copolymers of styrene (molecule 1) and 1-chloro-l,3-butadiene (molecule 2) prepared from various feedstocks. A portion of their data is given below ... 

Some additional dyad fractions from the research cited in the last problem J are reported at intermediate feedstock concentrations (M = vinylidene chloride M2 = isobutylene) ... 

Coal is used ia industry both as a fuel and ia much lower volume as a source of chemicals. In this respect it is like petroleum and natural gas whose consumption also is heavily dominated by fuel use. Coal was once the principal feedstock for chemical production, but ia the 1950s it became more economical to obtain most industrial chemicals from petroleum and gas. Nevertheless, certain chemicals continue to be obtained from coal by traditional routes, and an interest in coal-based chemicals has been maintained in academic and industrial research laboratories. Much of the recent activity in coal conversion has been focused on production of synthetic fuels, but significant progress also has been made on use of coal as a chemical feedstock (see Coal CONVERSION processes). 

Alternative feedstocks for petrochemicals have been the subject of much research and study over the past several decades, but have not yet become economically attractive. Chemical producers are expected to continue to use fossil fuels for energy and feedstock needs for the next 75 years. The most promising sources which have received the most attention include coal, tar sands, oil shale, and biomass. Near-term advances ia coal-gasification technology offer the greatest potential to replace oil- and gas-based feedstocks ia selected appHcations (10) (see Feedstocks, coal chemicals). 

Feedstock Development. Most of the research in process in the United States in the early 1990s on the selection of suitable biomass species for energy appHcations is limited to laboratory studies and small-scale test plots. Many of the research programs on feedstock development were started in the 1970s or early 1980s. 

The hquid remaining after the solvent has been recovered is a heavy residual fuel called solvent-refined coal, containing less than 0.8 wt % sulfur and 0.1 wt % ash. It melts at ca 177°C and has a heating value of ca 37 MJ/kg (16,000 Btu/lb), regardless of the quaUty of the coal feedstock. The activity of the solvent is apparently more important than the action of gaseous hydrogen ia this type of uncatalyzed hydrogenation. Research has been directed to the use of petroleum-derived aromatic oils as start-up solvents (118). 

Coal was the original feedstock for syngas at BeUe thus ethylene glycol was commercially manufactured from coal at one time. Ethylene glycol manufacture from syngas continues to be pursued by a number of researchers (10). 

There has been considerable research into the production of substitute natural gas (SNG) from fractions of cmde oil, coal, or biomass (see Euels SYNTHETIC, Euels frombiomass Euels fromwaste). The process involves partial oxidation of the feedstock to produce a synthesis gas containing carbon... 

Applications. The most ubiquitous use of infrared spectrometry is chemical identification. It has long been an important tool for studying newly synthesi2ed compounds in the research lab, but industrial identification uses cover an even wider range. In many industries ir spectrometry is used to assay feedstocks (qv). In the flavors (see Flavors and spices), fragrances (see Perfumes), and cosmetics (qv) industries, it can be used not only for gross identification of feedstocks, but for determining specific sources. The spectra of essential oils (see Oils, essential), essences, and other natural products vary with the season and source. Adulteration and dilution can also be identified. 

In addition to these principal commercial uses of molybdenum catalysts, there is great research interest in molybdenum oxides, often supported on siHca, ie, MoO —Si02, as partial oxidation catalysts for such processes as methane-to-methanol or methane-to-formaldehyde (80). Both O2 and N2O have been used as oxidants, and photochemical activation of the MoO catalyst has been reported (81). The research is driven by the increased use of natural gas as a feedstock for Hquid fuels and chemicals (82). Various heteropolymolybdates (83), MoO.-containing ultrastable Y-zeoHtes (84), and certain mixed metal molybdates, eg, MnMoO Ee2(MoO)2, photoactivated CuMoO, and ZnMoO, have also been studied as partial oxidation catalysts for methane conversion to methanol or formaldehyde (80) and for the oxidation of C-4-hydrocarbons to maleic anhydride (85). Heteropolymolybdates have also been shown to effect ethylene (qv) conversion to acetaldehyde (qv) in a possible replacement for the Wacker process. 

Butylenes. Butylenes are the primary olefin feedstock to alkylation and produce a product high in trimethylpentanes. The research octane number, which is typically in the range of 94—98, depends on isomer distribution, catalyst, and operating conditions. 

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