Patent ID: 7763765

Claim:
A method for conducting an oxygenate conversion reaction comprising: providing an oxygenate feedstock, and a reactor apparatus that includes a reaction zone in fluid communication with a circulation zone, wherein said reaction zone has an inlet and an outlet, and said circulation zone has an inlet, an outlet and a transition zone, said transition zone including one or more displacing gas inlets; contacting the oxygenate feedstock with a catalytically effective amount of a gas-displaced catalyst in the reaction zone under oxygenate conversion conditions to form a product containing light olefins and an oxygenate-exposed catalyst, wherein the gas-displaced catalyst incorporates a silicoaluminophosphate molecular sieve with a Si/Al 2 ratio of at least 0.10 and no greater than 0.32, and the conditions include an oxygenate partial pressure in the reaction zone of at least 45 psi (310 kPa) and a reactor gas superficial velocity of at least 10 ft/s (3.0 m/s) at at least one point in the reaction zone such that the oxygenate-exposed catalyst is conveyed through the reaction zone to the outlet of the reaction zone; providing at least a portion of the oxygenate-exposed catalyst from the outlet of the reaction zone to the inlet of the circulation zone, and passing the oxygenate-exposed catalyst through the transition zone while flowing a displacing gas from the one or more displacing gas inlets of the transition zone countercurrently through the oxygenate-exposed catalyst in the transition zone, the displacing gas having a superficial velocity ranges from about 0.1 ft/s (0.03 m/s) to about 1.3 ft/s (0.40 m/s) at at least one point in the transition zone, to form the gas-displaced catalyst; providing at least a portion of the gas-displaced catalyst from the transition zone to the outlet of the circulation zone; and providing at least of portion of the gas-displaced catalyst from the outlet of the circulation zone to the inlet of the reaction zone to be at least a portion of catalyst for the contacting.