Patent ID: 7041860

Claim:
A process for the saturation of acetylenes contained in a butadiene rich stream comprising the steps of: (a) feeding hydrogen and a stream containing butadienes and acetylenes to a distillation column reactor containing a first hydrogenation catalyst; and (b) concurrently in the distillation column reactor; (i) reacting a portion of the acetylenes contained within the effluent with hydrogen without substantial hydrogenation of the butadienes, (ii) distilling the effluent to remove an overhead and bottoms; and (iii) recovering butadienes and unreacted acetylenes in the overhead; (c) feeding hydrogen and the overheads from the distillation column reactor to a single pass down flow reactor containing a second hydrogenation catalyst wherein less than all of the acetylenes are reacted with hydrogen without substantial hydrogenation of the butadienes; and (d) recovering an effluent containing said butadienes and having reduced acetylene content.