Abstract:
A method for the absorption of alkynes and diolefins from an ethylene or propylene containing stream with conversion to alkenes by catalytic hydrogenation in a solvent over a fixed bed comprising a supported catalyst.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     The present application claims the benefit of 35 U.S.C. 111(b) provisional application Ser. No. 60/654,651 filed Feb. 18, 2005, and entitled Absorption and Conversion of Acetylenic Compounds. 
     
    
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT  
       [0002]     Not Applicable.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0004]     This invention relates to the absorption of acetylenic and multi-ene containing chemicals from an ethylene or propylene containing stream with conversion to more saturated analogs by catalytic hydrogenation. More particularly, this invention relates to a method for converting alkynes and diolefins alkenes by catalytic hydrogenation in a solvent over a fixed bed comprising a supported catalyst.  
         [0005]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0006]     Numerous patents teach hydrogenation of acetylenic and/or diolefinic compounds in the gas phase. U.S. Pat. No. 5,587,348 describes hydrogenation of C 2  to C 10  alkynes contained in comparable streams of like alkenes over a supported palladium catalyst containing fluoride and at least one alkali metal. Examples show hydrogenation of low concentrations of acetylene, below 1%, converted to ethylene in a gas comprising methane and ethylene at 200 psig (about 13.8 bar g ) and 130° F. (54° C.) and 180° F. (82° C.). Care was taken to avoid heating the gas to a runaway temperature, wherein at least 4.5% of the ethylene would be converted to ethane and the temperature would become uncontrollable, which varied from about 70° (21° C.) to 100° F. (38° C.) above the minimum temperature that would reduce the acetylene concentration to acceptable levels.  
         [0007]     U.S. Pat. No. 6,127,310 by Brown et al. teaches that the selective hydrogenation of alkynes, which frequently are present in small amounts in alkene-containing streams (e.g., acetylene contained in ethylene streams from thermal alkane crackers), is commercially carried out in the presence of supported palladium catalysts. In the case of the selective hydrogenation of acetylene to ethylene, preferably an alumina-supported palladium/silver catalyst in accordance with the disclosure in U.S. Pat. No. 4,404,124 and its division U.S. Pat. No. 4,484,015, is used. The operating temperature for this hydrogenation process is selected such that essentially all acetylene is hydrogenated to ethylene (and thus removed from the feed stream) while only an insignificant amount of ethylene is hydrogenated to ethane (to minimize ethylene losses and to avoid a runaway reaction which is difficult to control, as has been pointed out in the above-identified patents).  
         [0008]     U.S. Pat. No. 6,350,717 describes use of a palladium-silver supported catalyst to hydrogenate acetylene to ethylene in the gas phase and propyne and/or propadiene to propylene in the gas or mixed phase. The acetylene is present at levels of 1% in a steam of ethylene.  
         [0009]     U.S. Pat. No. 5,856,262 describes use of a palladium catalyst supported on potassium doped silica wherein acetylene ranging in concentration from 0.01% to 5% in blends of ethylene and ethane is converted to ethylene in the gas phase.  
         [0010]     U.S. Pat. No. 6,509,292 describes use of a palladium-gold catalyst wherein acetylene contained in a stream of principally ethylene, hydrogen, methane, ethane and minor amounts of carbon monoxide converts acetylene to ethylene in the gas phase. This patent describes two types of acetylene hydrogenation—front end, where all the gas produced is exposed to the catalyst and tail end, where the components are first separated and a concentrated stream of acetylene or acetylenic compounds are hydrogenated.  
         [0011]     U.S. Pat. No. 6,578,378 describes a complex process for purification of ethylene produced from pyrolysis of hydrocarbons. At the top of the de-ethanizer the vapor of the column distillate is treated directly in an acetylene hydrogenation reactor, the effluent containing virtually no acetylene being separated by a distillation column called a de-methanizer, into ethylene- and ethane-enriched tail product. The vapor containing acetylene is exposed to selective hydrogenation to reduce acetylene content of the principally ethylene gas or treated with solvent to remove it and preserve it as a separate product. In all cases the acetylene content of the pyrolysis gas contained less than 1.5 mol % acetylene.  
         [0012]     Several patents teach hydrogenation of acetylenic compounds in the liquid phase. U.S. Pat. No. 3,755,488 describes the use of an aprotic solvent, including DMF, NMP and sulfolane, used to absorb acetylene preferentially from a gas stream composed primarily of ethylene and thereafter to subject that solvent containing absorbed acetylene to hydrogenation in the liquid phase. Selectivity is shown as high as 95% and conversion is as high as 93% when using a 5% Pd on alumina catalyst. This reaction ran for approximately 6 minutes using DMF as the aprotic solvent. The short useful reaction times of the catalyst that contained a large quantity of expensive palladium present serious impediments to industrial application.  
         [0013]     U.S. Pat. No. 4,128,595 presents a process wherein gaseous acetylene or acetylene group containing compounds are contacted with hydrogen via an inert saturated liquid hydrocarbon stream with hydrogenation occurring over a typical Group VIII metal supported on a catalyst medium. Examples of inert saturated hydrocarbons include various hexanes, decanes and decalin. The process requires the acetylene containing compound and saturated hydrocarbon solvent be fed co-currently into the top of a trickle bed reactor because the solubility of the acetylene-containing compound in the saturated hydrocarbon solvent is poor at reaction conditions. This patent reveals that use of a polar solvent in place of the saturated hydrocarbon will provide inferior results. They show that selectivity in DMF is about 75% and that conversion dropped from 100% to 50% after operation of the reactor for 17 hours.  
         [0014]     U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,442 relates to a process whereby acetylene and ethylene are concurrently subjected to hydrogenation over a palladium on alumina catalyst while in the presence of some liquid. The liquid comprises aromatic hydrocarbon and either primary or secondary amine. The purported advantages of using a solvent include better control of the heat released by reaction, improvement of hydrogenation selectivity and improvement of catalyst activity and stability. The results clearly show that hydrogenation of the entire stream results in loss of a substantial amount of the olefin to alkane, although using a liquid to moderate the heat released of hydrogenation may be of interest. Catalyst lifetimes are reportedly 50 hours or more. Disadvantages of using such a solvent mixture include, 1) maintaining the solvent mixture at the desired composition, 2) removal of contaminants derived from the amines, 3) the need to move a large quantity of liquid through the reactor with respect to the quantity of acetylenic and/or diolefinic contaminants contained within the olefin, and 4) the inability of the liquid to separate the reactive gas component from the inactive gas components.  
         [0015]     U.S. Pat. No. 6,395,952 describes recovery of olefins from a cracked gas stream using metallic salts and ligand. The cracked gas stream is hydrogenated prior to scrubbing to remove acetylene from the stream.  
         [0016]     U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,170 teaches selective hydrogenation of a stream emanating from an olefin plant after operation of a de-propanizer but prior to operation of a de-ethanizer or de-methanizer. The hydrogenation is performed on the mixed-phase propane-rich ethylene stream as well as subsequently on the vapor product. The purpose of this patent is to present a method by which the acetylenes in the front end of an olefin plant process stream. The propane liquids, initially separated out of the inlet process stream are used later to cool and wash the product of the acetylene hydrogenation reactor by adding them to the acetylene-containing stream during hydrogenation.  
         [0017]     French Patent FR 2,525,210 reveals a method for purification of a stream consisting mostly of ethylene with a smaller amount of acetylene contaminant wherein the acetylene is not converted to ethane. The basic concept is to hydrogenate a gas stream short of complete conversion, leaving some acetylene in the gas stream, then absorbing the acetylene in a solvent that extracts the acetylene from the ethylene stream. This extracted acetylene is recycled to the ethylene stream for hydrogenation. Increased conversion to ethylene is claimed.  
         [0018]     U.S. Pat. No. 5,847,250 relates to a supported palladium catalyst employing a “promoter” from Groups I or II and the palladium being supported in silica that has been pretreated to contain the promoter. The advantage is that no carbon monoxide is needed to provide increased selectivity because the “selectivity increasing effect of the carbon monoxide is strongly temperature dependent. Large temperature gradients in the catalyst bed therefore have an adverse effect of the selectivity.” The reaction is performed in the gas phase in one or more beds with or without intermediate cooling or hydrogen gas addition. Acetylene content ranges from 0.01% to 5%. Reported selectivity ranges from 19 to 56%.  
         [0019]     U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,906 presents a new catalyst formulation wherein acetylene is converted by hydrogenation to ethylene in the presence of CO which is in concentrations greater than 1 vol % in a temperature range between 100° C. to 500° C. The catalyst is a zinc oxide or sulfide, which way incorporate chromium, thorium or gallium oxide.  
         [0020]     Most providers of acetylenic and olefinic compound hydrogenation technology, such as Chevron-Phillips, utilize gas phase hydrogenation only. This can be performed directly on the cracked gas, or applied after various clean-up operations are performed (i.e., remove sulfur contaminants) or various gas components (methane, ethane) are separated out. Treating a large stream of gas requires a large reactor and very high catalyst selectivity, since the concentration of the acetylenic and olefinic compounds is typically 1% or less. Since such catalyst is typically expensive, the conversion needs to be very complete to ensure removal of the undesirable acetylenic and olefinic compounds.  
         [0021]     Another common technology is to use a solvent that selectively removes acetylenic and olefinic compounds from the alkene stream, such as Linde AG&#39;s DMF absorption process. The acetylenic and olefinic compounds is not normally hydrogenated because hydrogenation of a concentrated stream of acetylenic and olefinic compounds leads to thermal runaway due to the highly exothermic nature of the hydrogenation reaction in the gas phase.  
         [0022]     Other providers, such as Technip, provide both services. However, no commercial process provides absorption coupled with hydrogenation that can be performed in a commercially and economically viable manner as is revealed here.  
         [0023]     Although some prior art discloses methods for separating highly unsaturated contaminants from olefinic streams and describes various means and methods for hydrogenating those contaminants to olefins as well as controlling the temperature of the hydrogenation reaction, no economical and integrated method is presently known in the art for the separation of the contaminants from an olefin stream, sequestering these contaminants selectively in an absorbent, hydrogenating those contaminants to olefins while in the absorbent using a catalyst capable of high conversion and selectively for many hours, separation of the hydrogenated compounds from the solvent by ordinary means, and recovery of the hydrogenated product for subsequent use or preferentially recombination with the initially decontaminated olefin stream. The process of the present invention can be performed in a practical and economic manner and overcomes the problems of the prior art.  
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF SOME OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0024]     Ethylene and propylene, high volume commodity chemicals, are manufactured world wide by various methods, but one of the more common methods is the cracking of the alkane (propane/ethane) ethane to the alkene (propylene/ethylene). Typically, cracking of ethane or propane to ethylene or propylene yields primarily ethylene or propylene, but byproducts are also formed. These byproducts include acetylene, vinyl acetylene, methyl acetylene, dienes and diacetylene. The presence of these byproducts, even in relatively small amounts, has deleterious or undesirable effects on subsequent chemical conversions. For example in polyethylene manufacture, the presence of even small amounts of acetylene in ethylene leads to excessive crosslinking, discolorization and in some cases catalyst deactivation or poisoning. Thus, it is desirable to convert the alkynes and diolefins (acetylenic and olefinic compounds) to alkenes, but not further convert the alkenes to alkanes. Reactions of alkenes, such as ethylene, are generally more controllable than those of alkynes, such as acetylene, and diolefins such as dibutenes, which tend to create oligomers and undesirable polyfunctional compounds.  
         [0025]     These byproducts can be removed by various means. Examples of industrially practiced methods include physical separation, distillation at low temperature, and hydrogenation of all or a part of the entire stream. Two general types of gaseous phase selective hydrogenation processes for purifying unsaturated hydrocarbons have come into use. One, known as “front-end” hydrogenation, involves passing the crude gas from the initial cracking step, after removal of steam and condensible organic matter, over a hydrogenation catalyst. The crude gas normally contains a relatively large amount of hydrogen, far in excess of that required to hydrogenate any acetylenes and sufficient in fact to hydrogenate a substantial part of the olefin present. Despite this hydrogen excess, operation with sufficient selectivity to give olefins of polymerisation quality is well established and catalyst life of many years can be obtained. In the other type, known as “tail-end” hydrogenation, the crude gas is fractionated and the resulting product streams are reacted with hydrogen in slight excess over the quantity required for hydrogenation of the highly unsaturated hydrocarbons present. The tail-end hydrogenation is less critical than front-end hydrogenation in that at the low hydrogen excess a runaway reaction is not as likely; however, there is a greater tendency for deactivation of the catalyst and formation of polymers from the highly unsaturated hydrocarbons may occur as an alternative to the hydrogenation thereof. Consequently periodic regeneration of the catalyst is required.  
         [0026]     It is thus an object of the present invention to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art and thereby to provide an integrated, energy efficient process for converting select contaminants of olefinic gas streams to useful and economically advantageous products including the initial olefin from which the contaminants were abstracted.  
         [0027]     It is also an object of this invention to provide a process for the selective hydrogenation of acetylene and diolefinic and acetylenic compounds wherein the acetylene and/or diolefinic and or acetylenic compounds are absorbed from a gas or liquid or mixed phase stream by use of a non-hydrocarbon absorbent liquid and thereafter the absorbent liquid which contains the acetylene or acetylenic compounds is exposed to a Group VIII catalyst co-currently with a gas stream containing at least hydrogen. It is consistent with this invention that other gas or liquid components will be present in the stream that contains acetylene or acetylenic compounds, in major or minor proportions, and that these may include but are not limited to aromatics, olefins, alkanes, water, alcohols, oxides, sulfides, and amines. It is also consistent with this invention that the non-hydrocarbon absorbents used to absorb acetylene or acetylenic compounds from the aforementioned gas stream will include but not be limited to: n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), dimethylformamide (DMF), acetone, tetrahydrofuran (THF), dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), monomethylamine (MMA) and chloroform and that the temperature and pressure selected for hydrogenation of the acetylene or acetylenic compounds in the polar absorbent will be selected such that the liquid absorbent does not form significant vapor.  
         [0028]     It is also an object of this invention to obtain useful conversion of acetylene at moderate temperatures and pressures. Typically, the temperature ranges from 0° F. to 400° F. and the pressure ranges from 1 to 2000 psia, and the choice of operating conditions will vary depending on the absorbent chosen and the acetylenic compounds being hydrogenated.  
         [0029]     It is also an object of this invention that the acetylene and/or acetylenic compounds and/or diolefinic compounds are selectively hydrogenated to ethylene or homologous ethenic compounds with minimum conversion to ethane and other saturated compounds.  
         [0030]     It is also an object of this invention that the catalyst is chosen to operate at selected reactor conditions so that a majority of the acetylenic and olefinic compounds are converted to monoolefins with relatively low conversion of these compounds to fully hydrogenated alkanes or oligomers or polymers.  
         [0031]     It is also an object of this invention to provide operation of the reaction process in such a way that “run-away” temperature conditions do not occur and that temperature control is naturally enhanced. The use of these liquid absorbents acts to absorb more heat with less of a temperature rise, either at the catalyst surface or throughout the fluid phase, than a gas under most process conditions, due to a larger heat capacity per volume than the gas phase alone. These liquid absorbents also provide for improved heat transfer, as their thermal conductivity is much greater under most process conditions.  
         [0032]     It is also an object of this invention to obtain useful conversion of acetylene and/or acetylenic compounds and/or diolefinic compounds even in the presence of carbon monoxide in excess of 1% of the non-absorbent components.  
         [0033]     It is also an object of this invention to obtain useful conversion of acetylene and/or acetylenic compounds and/or diolefinic compounds in the presence of hydrogen equal to or in excess of that stoichiometrically required to effect the total hydrogenation of the acetylene or acetylenic compounds.  
         [0034]     It is also an object of this invention to perform the hydrogenation of acetylene and acetylenic compounds in one or more reactors in series. Any catalyst well known to selectively hydrogenate acetylene can be employed by this invention. The group VIII metal hydrogenation catalysts are generally used and preferred. Most commonly, these are employed as supported catalysts on such materials as alumina, silica, or aluminosilicates, but may be supported as well on metal meshes or screens. Most commonly, these supports contain one or more Group VIII metals in the amount of 0.01 to 10 percent by weight. There are many formulations of such catalysts which contain other components, primarily Group I through Group VII metals which improve selectivity, conversion or yield. Alternatively, other applicable catalysts include but are not limited to nickel arsenide on alumina, ruthenium on alumina, Raney-nickel, zinc oxide and zinc sulfide.  
         [0035]     It is also an object of this invention to perform the hydrogenation in a liquid or dispersed phase such that separation can be effected by normal means including distillation, single stage flash, multistage flash, crystallization, washing with a solvent, partitioning with a non-solvent, or a combination of these common separation means, not exclusive of less common techniques that are known to those skilled in the art.  
         [0036]     It is also an object of this invention that the olefinic compounds formed by reaction are separated from the solvent.  
         [0037]     It is also an object of this invention that the rich solvent containing acetylenic and diolefinic compounds is separated such that heavier or more strongly absorbed components are retained in the solvent and lighter or less strongly absorbed components are released to the gas phase in a gas/liquid separator.  
         [0038]     It is also an object of this invention that the evolved gas phase component is optionally reabsorbed in lean solvent.  
         [0039]     It is also an object of this invention that the separate streams are subjected to conditions in separate reactors that convert at least a portion of the contaminant in at least one of the streams to a hydrogenated form.  
         [0040]     It is also an object of this invention that there is performed substantial removal of the acetylenic and diolefinic compounds from a stream comprising olefins by treatment of the gas stream with a solvent that preferentially absorbs acetylenic and diolefinic compounds, forming a liquid phase that is richer in acetylenic and diolefinic compounds after exposure to the gas stream. It is consistent with this invention that the stream from which the acetylenic and diolefinic compounds is removed is improved in quality. It is consistent with this invention that the acetylenic and diolefinic compounds are reacted while absorbed in the liquid solvent over a solid catalyst with a source of hydrogen at a sufficient temperature, pressure and for adequate time to convert at least some of the acetylenic and diolefinic compounds to olefinic compounds. It is also consistent with this invention that the olefin produced by reaction of the acetylenic and diolefinic compounds is added to the initial olefinic gas stream, increasing the quantity of the olefinic gas above what was originally available. It is also consistent with this invention that a gas separation and purification step is performed upstream of the solvent absorber.  
         [0041]     It is also an object of this invention that a catalyst formulation is utilized that has stable behavior for periods of time in excess of 5 hours.  
         [0042]     It is also an object of this invention that the used solvent is regenerated so that it can be re-used and recycled many times. It is consistent with this invention that the solvent regeneration employs a separation step where by-products of the preferred reaction can be removed and isolated for subsequent use.  
         [0043]     It is also an object of this invention that the initial source of hydrogen to the reactor is the gas stream containing the olefin.  
         [0044]     It is also an object of this invention that the source of hydrogen may be pure hydrogen.  
         [0045]     It is also an object of this invention that a source of carbon monoxide is introduced to the reactor.  
         [0046]     It is also an object of this invention that the source of carbon monoxide is wholly or partly the initial gas stream containing the olefin.  
         [0047]     It is also an object of this invention that the gaseous products of the reactor are subjected to separation thus producing one or more streams enriched in various components such as but not exclusively hydrogen, carbon monoxide, ethylene, butene and carbon dioxide.  
         [0048]     It is also an object of this invention that the carbon monoxide produced by gas separation may be combined with the carbon monoxide stream that serves as the primary source of the carbon monoxide.  
         [0049]     It is also an object of this invention that the hydrogen produced by gas separation may be combined with the hydrogen stream that serves as the primary source of the hydrogen.  
         [0050]     It is also an object of this invention that the gas phase product of the reactor is combined with the rich gas stream containing the pre-existing contaminants.  
         [0051]     It is also an object of this invention to provide a method to remove acetylenic and diolefinic compounds from a monoolefinic stream and convert said acetylenic and diolefinic compounds into one or more monoolefinic compounds comprising: contacting the monoolefin stream which contains acetylenic and diolefinic components with an aprotic, liquid solvent in which the acetylenic and diolefinic compounds are more soluble than the olefinic components, thereby effecting separation of at least some of the acetylenic and diolefinic compounds from the monoolefinic stream, concentrating the acetylenic and diolefinic compounds in the liquid solvent to form an enriched solvent, and a lean monoolefin stream, which is reduced in acetylenic and diolefinic compounds content, introducing the enriched solvent to at least one reactor containing a catalyst comprising a Group VIII element, introducing a source of hydrogen to the at least one reactor, operating the at least one reactor at conditions sufficient to maintain a portion of the acetylenic or diolefinic compounds within the liquid phase and to hydrogenate at least a portion of the acetylenic and diolefinic compounds contained within the enriched absorbent, preferentially to monoolefins, recovering the monoolefins from the solvent such that the monoolefin product can be subjected to further purification or added to the lean monoolefin stream.  
         [0052]     It is also an object of this invention to provide a method remove acetylenic and diolefinic compounds from a monoolefinic stream and convert those acetylenic and diolefinic compounds into monoolefinic compounds comprising: contacting the monoolefin stream which contains acetylenic and diolefinic components with an aprotic, liquid solvent in which the acetylenic and diolefinic compounds are more soluble than the olefinic components thereby effecting at least some separation of the acetylenic and diolefinic compounds from the monoolefinic stream resulting in some concentration of the acetylenic and diolefinic compounds in the liquid solvent forming an enriched solvent and a lean monoolefin stream which is reduced in acetylenic and diolefinic compounds, introducing the enriched solvent to a reactor or reactors containing catalyst which substantially retains or exceeds its initial activity and selectivity after 5 hours of operation, introducing a source of hydrogen to the reactor or reactors, operating the reactor at such conditions sufficient to maintain a portion of the acetylenic and/or diolefinic compounds within the liquid phase and to hydrogenate at least a portion of the acetylenic and diolefinic compounds contained within the enriched absorbent, preferentially to monoolefins, recovering the monoolefins from the solvent now depleted in acetylenic compounds and/or diolefinic compounds by ordinary means such that the monoolefin product can be subjected to further purification or added to the lean monoolefin stream and the solvent can be reused in the process as lean solvent. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES  
       [0053]      FIG. 1  is a schematic process flow diagram illustrating certain embodiments described in the present disclosure.  
         [0054]      FIG. 2  is a schematic process flow diagram illustrating certain preferred embodiments described in the present disclosure. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0055]     Herein will be described in detail specific preferred embodiments of the present invention, with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered an exemplification of the principles of the invention, and is not intended to limit the invention to that illustrated and described herein. The present invention is susceptible to preferred embodiments of different forms or order and should not be interpreted to be limited to the specifically expressed methods or compositions contained herein. In particular, various preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a number of different configurations of the process.  
         [0056]     Initially, the alkene stream can be comprised of any alkene or combination of alkenes, but preferred examples of this application will be to streams that are predominantly ethylene or propylene. Such nearly pure component streams can be created by a number of technologies, chemistries, treatments or procedures. One method, for the purpose of illustration only, used extensively in commercial production of these identified alkenes is thermal cracking of their fully hydrogenated precursor. Thus, on a commercial scale, ethane is cracked to form ethylene and propane is cracked to form propylene. Thermal or otherwise energy induced cracking typically produces a minor amount of the acetylenic and olefinic compounds that must be removed. Various solvents have proven effective at selectively removing acetylenic and olefinic compounds from streams of alkenes. Some of these are acetone, dimethylformamide (DMF), tetrahydrofuran (THF), dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) and monomethylamine (MMA). One preferred method of abstracting the acetylene from the predominantly alkene stream is to pass the gas concurrently through a properly designed absorber. Typically, absorbers will contain contact plates, random packing, structured packing, liquid distributors, screens, demisters and other such accoutrements to ensure adequate contact between the rich gas (alkyne containing) and lean solvent (acetylenic and olefinic compounds deficient) to form a rich solvent (acetylenic and olefinic compounds content increased) and lean gas (acetylenic and olefinic compounds reduced). The absorber is preferably operated at a temperature and pressure to economically remove acetylenic and olefinic compounds from the rich gas stream. Higher pressure and lower temperature typically enhance gas absorption into a liquid. The upper limit on pressure is imposed by the tendency of acetylenic and olefinic compounds to spontaneously decompose or detonate. Therefore, refrigeration may or may not be used, although operation at moderate pressures in the range of 15 psia to 1000 psia should be expected. After it is formed the rich solvent is conveyed to a reactor containing an improved solid catalyst suitable for hydrogenation of the acetylenic and olefinic compounds while absorbed in the solvent and providing long life, economical service. A source of hydrogen is also fed to the reactor. Depending upon the design of the reactor the source of hydrogen can be a gas containing hydrogen or a chemical that contains hydrogen which may be introduced as a solid, liquid or gas. The reactor is operated at a sufficient pressure and temperature to convert some of the acetylenic and olefinic compounds to alkene, and is preferentially operated to convert all of the acetylenic and olefinic compounds to alkene without forming substantial alkane. The exact product composition will depend on the user&#39;s requirements. Following reaction, the alkene product and solvent will be separated. Depending on the pressure and temperature at which the hydrogenation reactor is operated, this may be accomplished by flashing (single stage or multistage) to a lower pressure, distillation (single or multicolumn), extraction (single stage or multistage) or other appropriate separation techniques.  
         [0057]     The source of hydrogen to the hydrogenation reactor may contain, be mixed with or co-fed with non-hydrogen components. These may include but are not limited to water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ammonia, various amines, ethane, ethylene, propane, propylene, acetylene and propyne. Since carbon monoxide is often utilized in low concentrations to improve selectivity of typical hydrogenation catalysts, a separate carbon monoxide stream may be provided. Significantly higher concentrations of carbon monoxide at levels which it would normally be considered a catalyst poison can be used in this reaction without detriment to the reaction product or catalyst.  
         [0058]     Some of these constituents may not react and may exit the reactor in the liquid or the gas effluent following downstream separation. Therefore, it is expected that the effluent gas stream may be subjected to purification operations such as, but not limited to: distillation, pressure swing absorption, membrane separation and contaminant absorption by a selective solvent. It is also anticipated that the rich liquid effluent from the reactor may contain reaction by-products, catalyst fines and other non-product components. Therefore, the liquid may need to be purified or treated before being reused. Although it is possible that the solvent could be used only one time, it is much more economical to re-use the liquid repeatedly. Purification of the liquid by removing substantial portions of the contaminants may be accomplished by single units, multiple units, or combination of units including, but not restricted to: extraction, leaching, distillation, absorption, adsorption, crystallization and filtration.  
         [0059]     Once purified, if purification is necessary, the evolved gas stream may be recombined with the lean gas stream from the absorber. The liquid, if purification is necessary, may be recirculated to the absorber column.  
         [0060]     Performing the absorption step using a selective solvent does remove the acetylenic and olefinic compounds from the alkene stream. Properly designed, the absorber concentrates the acetylenic and olefinic compounds in the liquid stream many times. The more concentrated the acetylenic and olefinic compounds, the more heat is released per volume when the acetylenic and olefinic compounds are hydrogenated. This is a serious difficulty in gas phase reactions. High heat release per volume values are tolerated by the solvent in which the acetylenic and olefinic compounds are dissolved because the heat capacity per volume of reactant is increased between about one and two orders of magnitude. Temperature increases are kept low and temperature control is much easier. Once a molecule of acetylenic and olefinic compounds is converted to a molecule of alkene, the solvent&#39;s tendency to hold on to the molecule decreases significantly. Therefore, even at reaction pressure and temperature, much of the product desorbs immediately from the solvent. When the pressure of the liquid is lowered, in passing through a control valve, for example, more alkene product will evolve, making separation of the alkene from the solvent relatively simple and easy to accomplish. This evolved alkene can be immediately combined with the lean alkene from the absorber or sent to further purification to remove any non-alkene gases, depending on its purity.  
         [0061]     Referring now to  FIG. 1 , there are shown certain preferred embodiments for producing an improved olefin stream such as ethylene from a stream contaminated with the classes of compounds represented by acetylene, methyl acetylene, vinyl acetylene and propadiene, and hydrogenating those contaminants in order to produce the classes of compounds represented by ethylene, propylene and butene. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the contaminant laden rich gas stream  4  obtained from rich gas source  3  is passed counter-currently with lean solvent stream  2  obtained from lean solvent source  1 , such as a storage tank, into a gas/liquid contactor  5 , such as an absorber capable of producing a contaminant reduced or lean gas stream  6  and rich solvent stream  7 . The term “storage” as used herein should be understood to mean permanent or temporary holdup wherein holdup time may be zero, as in the case wherein the storage device is a transfer line or part of a transfer line. The rich solvent stream  7 , which may contain carbon dioxide, is conveyed to one or more reactors  12  and fed concurrently with stream  16  which contains at least hydrogen and optionally a stream  15  which comprises carbon monoxide. Stream  16  may contain some carbon monoxide. This mixture is passed through reactors  12  and emerges as a stream of solvent containing at least some hydrogenated product  13 , which is fed to the gas/liquid separator  17 , such as a flash tank. The gas/liquid separator  17  is operated at such conditions to produce a gas stream  20  which contains the desired hydrogenated monoolefin without producing significant amounts of completely hydrogenated alkanes or oligomers or polymers. Gas stream  20 , depending upon composition, is optionally passed through a gas separation device  21  such as a membrane. The product olefin stream  22  is transferred to alkene storage  23  from which product stream  30  is sent by stream  31  to lean gas storage  8 , or reprocessed by conveying it to rich gas storage  3  via stream  32 . The remaining gas stream  24  obtained from the gas separation unit  21  can optionally be transferred to subsequent further separation in gas separation unit  25 , such as a membrane or cryogenic separation device, forming a stream rich in hydrogen  28  and a stream rich in carbon monoxide  29 . The carbon monoxide rich stream can optionally be sent to a carbon dioxide storage facility  27 . The hydrogen rich stream can optionally be sent to a hydrogen storage facility  26 .  
         [0062]     The absorber  5  will be operated within a nominal range of temperature from about 50° F. to 150° F. (about 10° C. to about 66° C.) and at a pressure of approximately 25 psig to about 500 psig (about 1.7 to about 34 bar g ). Best and most economical absorption occurs when the temperature of operation is as low as possible without refrigeration and the pressure is as high as economically possible without developing conditions that could lead to spontaneous ignition of any of the components that might detonate. The rich gas stream  4  may need to be pressurized in order to feed it to the absorber. The operating conditions of the absorber  5  will be dependent upon the concentration and identity of the contaminants in rich gas stream  4 . The ability of the rich solvent  7  to contain contaminants depends upon pressure, temperature, the specific chemical identity of the contaminants contained and their concentration. The preferred operation temperature of reactor  12  will be within the range of about 100° F. to 400° F. (about 38° C. to about 204° C.). The desired operation pressure of reactor  12  will be about 50 to 500 psig (about 1.7 to 34 bar g ) and more preferably 100 to 250 psig (about 6.9 to 17 bar g ). Introduction of hydrogen, optionally carbon monoxide, and rich solvent to the reactor at the operating conditions will result in a mixture of gas and liquid being driven through the bed of catalyst if the reactor  12  is of the trickle bed type or any fixed bed type. It is not intended to operate the reactor at such conditions to vaporize a significant amount of the solvent. It is most preferable to operate the reactor at such conditions that will maintain the majority to all of the solvent in the liquid phase. The solvent and absorbed gases and co-flowing gases, some of which may be products, emerge out of the reactor outlet and form effluent stream  13 , which is conveyed to the gas/liquid separator  17 . The gas liquid separator is operated at the conditions necessary to produce a gas stream  20  and a liquid stream  18 . If the rich gas is actually a liquid at flowing conditions, the desired physical state of the olefin product may be liquid as well. The term “gas” as it is used in “rich gas” or “lean gas” or “gas stream” is not necessarily meant to indicate the actual physical state of either olefin containing stream, but is meant to indicate the physical state of the stream under conditions of standard pressure and temperature only. Depending upon the process conditions involved, such streams may be stored, transported through, or removed from the process as liquids. If desired, the gas stream  20  may be sent immediately to alkene storage  23  via stream  34 . If gas stream  20  contains other species, such as hydrogen and carbon monoxide, it may be conveyed via stream  35  to a gas separation device  21 , an example being a membrane gas separator. The olefin stream  22  is sent to alkene storage  23  which thereafter may be sent via stream  30  and  31  to lean gas storage  8 , such as a process line or returned via stream  30  and  32  to stream  4  for reprocessing. Lean gas accumulated in lean gas storage  8  is conveyed by stream  50  to use or alternate storage.  
         [0063]     The non-olefin stream  24  may be vented, burned, conveyed to separate storage or sent to gas separation unit  25 , such as a membrane separator. The effluent hydrogen containing gas stream  28  can be conveyed to separate hydrogen storage  26  or immediately conveyed to reactor feed hydrogen storage  14 . The effluent carbon monoxide containing gas stream  29  can be conveyed to separate carbon monoxide storage  27  or immediately conveyed to reactor feed carbon monoxide storage  11 . The liquid stream  18  from gas/liquid separator  17 , which is depleted in alkene content, may contain other components or waste products. All or a portion of stream  18  may be sent to solvent regeneration  19 . The solvent regeneration unit  19 , an example being a distillation column, is operated at the conditions necessary to produce reclaimed or regenerated solvent stream  33  and may produce a waste stream  39  composed of solids and/or liquids and or gases. All or a portion of stream  71  may be sent to lean solvent source  1 .  
         [0064]     Hydrogen accumulated in hydrogen gas storage  26  may be sent to hydrogen supply  14  via stream  37  or sent to other uses via stream  38 . Carbon monoxide in carbon monoxide storage  27  may be sent to carbon monoxide storage  11  via stream  36  or sent to other uses via stream  40 . In some cases, such as for purposes of creating a fuel mixture or a reactant blend known as syngas, all or portions of these gas streams  38  and  40  may be commingled forming gas stream  41 .  
         [0065]     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , shown therein are certain preferred embodiments for producing improved olefin streams such as ethylene and propylene from a stream contaminated with the classes of compounds represented by acetylene, methyl acetylene, vinyl acetylene and propadiene and hydrogenating those contaminants in order to produce the class of compounds represented by ethylene, propylene and butene. As shown in  FIG. 2 , the contaminant laden rich gas stream  4  is passed counter-currently with lean solvent stream  2  obtained from lean solvent storage  1 , such as a storage tank, into a gas/liquid contactor  5 , such as an absorber capable of producing contaminant reduced or lean gas stream  6  and rich solvent stream  7 . The rich solvent stream  7  is conveyed to heater  61  where it is heated sufficiently, forming heated stream  63  in order to cause some of the absorbed contaminant absorbed in liquid stream  7  to enter the gas phase at the normal operating conditions of gas/liquid separator  62 , such as a flash separator causing and resulting in partitioning of the differently absorbed components. Depending upon design or operating conditions of separator  62 , heater  61  may not be needed and therefore optional equipment. By way of illustration and not limitation, the component that enters the gas phase may preferably be homologous to the component that remains in the liquid phase, but with a lower molecular weight and thus referred to as lighter. The gas stream  64  that is produced in gas/liquid separator  62  is conducted to gas/liquid contactor  65 , such as an absorber. The gas/liquid contactor  65  is operated at a pressure and temperature such that when mixed with lean solvent stream  68  obtained from lean solvent storage  11 , a portion of gas stream  64  and liquid stream  68  mix to form liquid stream  69 . Any portion of gas stream  64  which is not absorbed into liquid stream  69  exits gas/liquid contactor  65  as gas stream  67  which is optionally recombined via stream  132  with gas from rich gas source  3  forming gas stream  4 .  
         [0066]     Rich solvent  66  containing heavier or more strongly absorbed contaminants from gas/liquid separator  62  is conveyed to one or more reactors  212  and fed co-currently with at least a stream  216  which contains some hydrogen and optionally a stream  215  which comprises carbon monoxide. Stream  216  may contain some carbon monoxide. This mixture is passed through reactors  212  and emerges as a stream of solvent containing at least some hydrogenated product  213 , which is fed to the gas/liquid separator  217 , such as a flash tank. The gas/liquid separator is operated at such conditions to produce a gas stream  220  which contains a desired hydrogenated monoolefin without producing significant amounts of completely hydrogenated alkanes or oligomers or polymers. Gas stream  220 , depending upon composition, is optionally passed via stream  234  to heavy alkene storage  223  or sent via stream  235  through a gas separation device  221 , such as a membrane. The product olefin stream  222  is transferred to heavy olefin storage  223  and is sent via stream  243  to subsequent use. The remaining gas stream  224  obtained from the gas separation unit  221  can optionally be utilized in subsequent processing via stream  273  or may optionally be transferred to subsequent further separation in gas separation unit  225 , such as a membrane or cryogenic separation device, forming a stream rich in hydrogen  228  and a stream rich in carbon monoxide  229 . The carbon monoxide rich stream can optionally be sent to a carbon dioxide storage facility  227 . The hydrogen rich stream can optionally be sent to a hydrogen storage facility  226 .  
         [0067]     Rich solvent  69  containing lighter or less strongly absorbed contaminants from gas/liquid contactor  65  is conveyed to one or more reactors  112  and fed co-currently with at least a stream  116  which contains some hydrogen and optionally a stream  115  which comprises carbon monoxide. This mixture is passed through reactors  112  and emerges as a stream of solvent containing at least some hydrogenated product  113 , which is fed to the gas/liquid separator  117 , such as a flash tank. The gas/liquid separator is operated at such conditions to produce a gas stream  120  which contains a desired hydrogenated monoolefin without producing significant amounts of completely hydrogenated alkanes or oligomers or polymers. Gas stream  120 , depending upon composition, is optionally passed via stream  134  to light alkene storage  123  or via stream  135  through a gas separation device  121 , such as a membrane. The product olefin stream  122  is transferred to light olefin storage  123  and is there after sent via stream  142  and stream  146  to lean gas storage  8  or may be combined with rich gas stream  4  for reprocessing via streams  142 ,  144  and  132 . Lean gas accumulated in lean gas storage  8  is conveyed by stream  50  to use or alternate storage. The remaining gas stream  124  obtained from the gas separation unit  121  can optionally be utilized in subsequent processing via stream  173  or may optionally be transferred to subsequent further separation in gas separation unit  125 , such as a membrane or cryogenic separation device, forming a stream rich in hydrogen  128  and a stream rich in carbon monoxide  129 . The carbon monoxide rich stream can optionally be sent to a carbon dioxide storage facility  127 . The hydrogen rich stream can optionally be sent to a hydrogen storage facility  126 .  
         [0068]     The absorber  5  and the absorber  65  will be operated within a nominal range of temperature from about 50° F. to 150° F. (about 10° C. to about 66° C.) and at a pressure of approximately 25 psig to about 500 psig (about 1.7 to about 34 bar g ). Best and most economical absorption occurs when the temperature of operation is as low as possible without refrigeration and the pressure is as high as economically possible without developing conditions that could lead to spontaneous ignition of any components that might detonate. The rich gas stream  4  may need to be pressurized in order to feed it to the absorber. The operating conditions of the absorber  5  will be dependent upon the concentration and identity of the contaminants in rich gas stream  4 . The ability of rich solvents  7  and  69  to contain their respective contaminants depends upon pressure, temperature, the specific chemical identity of the contaminants contained and their concentration. The preferred operation temperature of reactors  112  and  212  will be within the range of about 100° F. to 400° F. (about 38° C. to about 204° C.). The desired operation pressure of reactors  112  and  212  will be about 50 to 500 psig (about 3.4 to about 34 bar g ) and more preferably 100 to 250 psig (about 6.9 to about 17.2 bar g ). Introduction of hydrogen, optionally carbon monoxide, and rich solvent to the reactor at the operating conditions will result in a mixture of gas and liquid being driven through the bed of catalyst if the reactors  112  or reactors  212  are of the trickle bed type or any fixed bed type. It is not intended to operate the reactors at such conditions to vaporize a significant amount of the solvent. It is most preferable to operate the reactors at such conditions that will maintain the majority to all of the solvent in the liquid phase. The solvent, and the absorbed gases and co-flowing gases, some of which may be products, emerge out of the reactor outlets and form effluent stream  113  or  213  respectively, which are conveyed to the their respective gas/liquid separators  117  or  217 . The gas-liquid separators are operated at conditions necessary to produce gas streams  120  and  220  and liquid streams  118  and  218 , respectively. Depending upon the components, gas streams  120  and/or  220  may contain the desired olefin or the liquid streams  118  and/or  218  may contain the desired olefin.  
         [0069]     The respective liquid streams  118  and  218  from respective gas/liquid separators  117  and  217 , which are depleted in alkene content, may contain other components or waste products. All or a portion of streams  118  and  218  may be sent, respectively, to solvent regeneration  119  and  219 . The respective solvent regeneration units  119  and  219 , example being distillation columns, are operated at the conditions necessary to produce respectively reclaimed or regenerated solvent streams  133  and  233  and respective may produce waste streams  139  and  239 , either or both composed of solids and/or liquids and or gases. All or a portion of streams  118  and  218  may be transferred to lean solvent sources  1  and  11  via streams  171  and  271  respectively, and thereafter via streams  172  and  272  respectively to stream  333 . Streams  133  and  233  may be sent via streams  172  and  272  respectively to be combined to form stream  333 , returning regenerated or reclaimed solvent to lean solvent storage  1  for recycle.  
         [0070]     If the rich gas stream  4  is actually a liquid at flowing conditions, the desired physical state of the olefin product may be liquid as well. The term “gas” as it is used in “rich gas” or “lean gas” or “gas stream” is not necessarily meant to indicate the actual physical state of either olefin containing stream, but is meant to indicate the physical state of the stream under conditions of standard pressure and temperature only. Depending upon the process conditions involved, such streams may be stored, transported through, or removed from the process as liquids. If the gas streams  120  and/or  220  consist of only the desired olefin product, gas stream  120  may be sent immediately to light alkene storage  123  and gas stream  220  may be sent to heavy alkene storage  223 . If either gas stream  120  or  220  contains other species, such as hydrogen and carbon monoxide, either may be conveyed to its respective gas separation device  121  or  221 , an example being membrane gas separators. Thereupon, the olefin stream  122  is sent to light alkene storage  123  and the olefin stream  222  is sent to light alkene storage  223 . All or portions of the non-olefin streams  124  and  224  may be vented, burned, conveyed to separate storage or use via streams  173  and  273 , respectively, the remaining portions thereof being sent to their respective gas separation units  125  or  225 , such as membrane separators. The effluent hydrogen containing gas streams  128  or  228  can be conveyed respectively to separate hydrogen storage  126  or  226  or immediately conveyed respectively to reactor feed hydrogen storage  114  or  214  by respective stream  137  or  237 . The effluent carbon monoxide containing gas streams  129  and  229  can be conveyed respectively to separate carbon monoxide storage  127  or  227  or immediately conveyed respectively to reactor feed carbon monoxide storage  111  or  211  respectively by streams  136  or  236 .  
         [0071]     Hydrogen accumulated in hydrogen gas storage  126  or  226  may be sent respectively to hydrogen supply  114  or  214  via respective streams  137  or  237  or respectively sent to other uses via streams  138  or  238 . Carbon monoxide in carbon monoxide gas storage  127  or  227  may be sent respectively to carbon monoxide supply  111  or  211  via respective streams  136  or  236  or respectively sent to other uses via stream  140  or  240 . In some cases, such as for purposes of creating a fuel mixture or a reactant blend known as syngas, all or portions of these gas streams  138  with  140  and  238  with  240  may be respectively co-mingled forming gas stream  141  or  241 .  
         [0072]     The examples provided in the disclosure are presented for illustration and explanation purposes only and are not intended to limit the claims or embodiments of this invention. While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, modification thereof can be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and teachings of the invention. Process design criteria, pendant processing equipment, and the like for any given implementation of the invention will be readily ascertainable to one of skill in the art based upon the disclosure herein.  
         [0073]     The embodiments described herein are exemplary only, and are not intended to be limiting. Many variations and modifications of the invention disclosed herein are possible and are within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of protection is not limited by the description set out above, but is only limited by the claims which follow, that scope including all equivalents of the subject matter of the claims.  
         [0074]     Use of the term “optionally” with respect to any element of the invention is intended to mean that the subject element is required, or alternatively, is not required. Both alternatives are intended to be within the scope of the invention.  
         [0075]     The discussion of a reference in the Description of the Related Art is not an admission that it is prior art to the present invention, especially any reference that may have a publication date after the priority date of this application. The disclosures of all patents, patent applications, and publications cited herein are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, to the extent that they provide exemplary, procedural, or other details supplementary to those set forth herein.