Patent ID: 6884863

Claim:
A process for making one or more polymer products from a methane containing source, the process comprising: (a) converting the methane containing source to an oxygenate; (b) contacting the oxygenate with a molecular sieve catalyst in an oxygenate to olefin reactor to produce a reactor effluent stream comprising one or more olefin product(s), the reactor effluent stream being entrained with catalyst fines wherein about 10 wt. % or less of the catalyst fines in the reactor effluent stream has a particle size greater than 40 microns, based upon the total weight of catalyst fines in the reactor effluent stream; (c) quenching the reactor effluent stream to produce a liquid fraction and a quenched effluent stream, the liquid fraction comprising catalyst fines, and the quenched effluent stream comprising the one or more olefin product(s); (d) transporting the liquid fraction to a separation device in a wastewater treatment facility, wherein the weight of catalyst fines expressed as a percentage of the total weight of the liquid fraction is about 10 wt. % or less; (e) separating the catalyst fines from the liquid fraction in the separation device with a flocculent; and (f) polymerizing the one or more olefin product(s) to produce one or more polymer products.