Patent ID: 6350371
Filing Date: 2002-02-26
Classification: C10G

Abstract:
A catalytic reforming process, comprising the following steps:(a) catalytically reforming a hydrocarbon feedstock in a reactor system; (b) withdrawing an effluent stream comprising hydrogen and hydrocarbons from the reactor system; (c) separating a reformate liquid phase and a vapor phase, comprising hydrogen and C1-C6 hydrocarbons, from the effluent stream; (d) recirculating a portion of the vapor phase of the the reactor system; (e) passing at least a portion of the unrecirculated vapor phase through at least one treatment step, including an adsorption step carried out in an adsorption system, to separate hydrogen from the C1-C6 hydrocarbons; (f) withdrawing a purified hydrogen product stream from the adsorption step; (g) withdrawing a waste hydrocarbon stream from the adsorption system; (h) compressing and cooling the waste hydrocarbon stream; (i) passing at least a portion of the compressed, cooled waste hydrocarbon stream as a feed stream across the feed side of a polymeric membrane having a feed side and a permeate side, and being selective for C1-C6 hydrocarbons over hydrogen; (j) withdrawing from the feed side a residue stream enriched in hydrogen compared with the waste hydrocarbon stream; (k) withdrawing from the permeate side a permeate stream enriched in the C1-C6 hydrocarbons compared with the waste hydrocarbon stream.