Patent ID: 7446231

Claim:
A hydroformylation process comprising reacting one or more reactants, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen in the presence of a hydroformylation catalyst to produce a reaction product fluid comprising one or more products, wherein said process is conducted at a carbon monoxide partial pressure such that reaction rate increases as carbon monoxide partial pressure decreases and the reaction rate decreases as carbon monoxide partial pressure increases; and wherein the following process steps are conducted to stabilize reaction rate, total pressure, vent flow rate, reaction temperature, or a combination thereof; the process steps comprising at least one of the following process control schemes selected from: Scheme A: (a1) establishing a target total pressure; (a2) detecting the total pressure and determining the difference between the detected total pressure and the target total pressure; and (a3) based on the pressure difference measured in step (a2), manipulating a feed flow of gas comprising carbon monoxide to adjust the detected total pressure essentially to the target total pressure; and Scheme B: (b1) establishing a target vent flow rate; (b2) detecting the vent flow rate and determining the difference between the detected vent flow rate and the target vent flow rate; and (b3) based on the vent flow rate difference measured in step (b2), manipulating a feed flow rate of gas comprising carbon monoxide to adjust the detected vent flow rate essentially to the target vent flow rate.