Patent ID: 7855312

Claim:
A method for producing olefins from methanol, the method comprising the steps of: contacting a molecular sieve catalyst with a first amount of methanol to produce an olefin stream, comprising an oxygenate wherein the oxygenate comprises an organic compound that contains at least one oxygen; removing oxygenates from the olefin stream by the steps consisting of: dewatering the olefin stream; compressing the dewatered olefin stream one or more times; washing the dewatered olefin stream with a second amount of methanol to remove at least a portion of the oxygenate from the olefin stream, wherein the second amount is from 1% to 10% of the first amount; contacting the methanol washed olefin stream with water; drying the water contacted olefin stream; and fractionating the dried olefin stream to produce an olefin stream.