Purification of oxidative dehydrogenation process effluents

Claim 2

A process according to claim 1 wherein an alkali metal basic compound is added to the liquid bottoms removed in step (c) to neutralize same prior to subjecting the neutralized water to reboiling to form steam, and further wherein the reboiler is constructed of carbon steel and the stripping zone is constructed of stainless steel or carbon steel coated with an inert and corrosive-resistant material selecTed from polytetrafluoroethylene and polyphenylene sulfide.

Claim 3

A process according to claim 1 wherein the water phase to be steam stripped is fed to the top of the stripping zone in step (c) and moves downwardly countercurrently to rising steam introduced near the base of the stripping zone.

Claim 4

A process according to claim 1 wherein an alkali metal basic compound is added to the liquid bottoms removed in step (c) to neutralize same prior to subjecting the neutralized water to reboiling to form steam, and the amount of basic compound added is sufficient to maintain a pH at near 7 for the bottoms subjected to reboiling.

Claim 5

The process of claim 1 wherein said reactant hydrocarbons have from two to about 12 carbon atoms, said hydrocarbons in step (b) are separated from said water and oxygenated hydrocarbons by selective condensation of said water and oxygenated hydrocarbons to produce a hydrocarbon-rich vapor phase and a liquid phase comprising primarily water and oxygenated hydrocarbons, and said vapor and liquid phases are separated.

Claim 6

The process of claim 1 wherein said reactant hydrocarbons are dehydrogenated in the presence of water and oxygen and water is produced by said dehydrogenation, and said overhead removed from the stripper is recycled to said dehydrogenation at a rate equivalent to the water demand of said dehydrogenation.

Claim 7

The process of claim 1 wherein said feed to be dehydrogenated is a hydrocarbon feed rich in butenes.

Claim 8

A process for the oxidative dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons whereby the production of oxygenated hydrocarbons is minimized which comprises: a. contacting a dehydrogenatable feed comprising reactant paraffinic and olefinic hydrocarbons with an oxygen-containing gas and catalyst under dehydrogenation conditions to produce a reaction effluent comprising water, dehydrogenated reactant hydrocarbon, unconverted reactant hydrocarbon and oxygenated hydrocarbons comprising aldehydes, ketones and carboxylic acids formed from said hydrocarbons during said contacting; b. separating dehydrogenated reactant hydrocarbon and unconverted reactant hydrocarbon from said effluent, leaving a water phase containing said oxygenated hydrocarbons; c. steam stripping said water phase to recover overhead steam and a substantial portion of said oxygenated hydrocarbons present in the water phase, and as bottoms a stripped water phase substantially reduced in said oxygenated hydrocarbons; and d. recycling said overhead comprising steam and said oxygenated hydrocarbons directly to the oxidative dehydrogenation reaction in step (a) to suppress the formation of additional oxygenated hydrocarbons.

Claim 9

A process for removing corrosive compounds comprising aldehydes, ketones, and carboxylic acids from a water stream containing same which comprises: a. stripping said corrosive compounds from said water stream containing same by contacting said water stream with steam in a stripping zone, b. removing overhead from said stripping zone a vaporous stream comprising steam and a substantial portion of said corrosive compounds, c. removing from said stripping zone a bottoms water stream substantially free of said corrosive compounds, d. neutralizing said bottoms water stream by the addition of a neutralizing amount of an alkali metal basic compound thereto, e. reboiling at least a portion of the neutralized bottoms water stream to convert same to steam, and f. introducing the steam thus formed into the stripping zone as the source of stripping steam for step (a).