Patent ID: 8404903

Claim:
An integrated process of hydroformylation and catalyst-product separation for controlling heavies in a catalyst recycle stream, the process comprising: (a) contacting a feedstream comprising one or more olefinic reactants and one or more inert lights with carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the presence of a transition metal-organophosphite ligand complex catalyst and, optionally, free organophosphite ligand, under hydroformylation conditions sufficient to prepare a crude liquid hydroformylation product stream comprising one or more aldehyde products, one or more heavies by-products, a transition metal-organophosphite ligand complex catalyst, optionally, free organophosphite ligand, one or more unconverted olefinic reactants, and lights including carbon monoxide, one or more inert lights, and optionally hydrogen; (b) feeding the crude liquid hydroformylation product stream from step (a) into a stripper; (c) removing from the stripper an overhead gas stream comprising one or more aldehyde products, one or more unconverted olefinic reactants, a portion of the one or more heavies by-products, lights including one or more inert lights, carbon monoxide, and optionally hydrogen; and feeding the stripper overhead gas stream into a condenser; (d) removing from the condenser an overhead gas stream comprising a portion of the one or more unconverted olefinic reactants and lights including a portion of the one or more inert lights, carbon monoxide, and optionally hydrogen; (e) recycling a portion of the condenser overhead gas stream to the vaporizer; and (f) removing as a tails stream from the stripper a liquid recycle catalyst stream comprising the balance of the heavies by-products, the transition metal-ligand complex catalyst, optionally free organophosphite ligand, and recycling the liquid recycle catalyst stream to step (a).