Patent ID: 6380452
Filing Date: 2002-04-30
Classification: B01D,C07C

Abstract:
A process for the isomerization of a normal paraffin, the process comprising the steps of:a) introducing normal paraffins to an isomerization reaction zone, isomerizing normal paraffins to branched paraffins having the same number of carbon atoms as the normal paraffins in the presence of a chloride-containing catalyst in the isomerization reaction zone, and recovering from the isomerization reaction zone a reaction effluent stream comprising branched paraffins, hydrocarbons having from 1 to 7 carbon atoms, and hydrogen chloride; b) passing at least a portion of the reaction effluent stream to a product separation zone operating at conditions to separate the entering paraffins, and withdrawing from the product separation zone a recycle stream comprising hydrogen chloride and hydrocarbons having from 1 to 7 carbon atoms; c) passing at least a portion of the recycle stream comprising hydrogen chloride and hydrocarbons having from 1 to 7 carbon atoms to a membrane separation zone comprising a resin membrane comprising a polymer or copolymer containing the polymer repeat unit represented by the formula, â€ƒwherein S is the sulfonic acid group or its salified form and wherein n represents the average number of polymer repeat units in the polymer or copolymer and wherein the polymer or copolymer has a molecular weight above about 10,000 and a degree of substitution of S groups of from about 0.2 to about 4; d) withdrawing from the membrane separation zone a permeate stream comprising hydrogen chloride; and e) recovering branched paraffins from the process.