Regeneration process for solid desiccants

Abstract

Abstract A solid desiccant, used to dehydrate a gas, e.g., an ethylenecontaining gas resulting from the pyrolytic conversion of a saturated hydrocarbon such as ethane or propane, is washed of deposited or polymeric material by passing a solvent, for example, an aromatic solvent such as benzene, toluene, or xylene, into the same, draining the solvent from the desiccant and reducing the pressure on the desiccant to cause evaporation of solvent which is removed whereupon the desiccant is heated to regenerate the same. In a modification a gas, e.g., a fuel gas, is passed through the bed, wet with solvent, to agitate the solvent in the bed to aid in the removal of the deposit or polymer therefrom. The desiccant can be an alumina or molecular sieve or other known desiccant which can be used to dehydrate any known vapor or gas which tends to form deposits or polymers which can be removed with a solvent following a dehydrating cycle.

Inventors

• 👤 Lucien H Vautrain
• 👤 Russell W Lortz

Bibliographic Details