The 1-Butene Plant is designed to produce 15,000 TM of 1-Butene per year. This hydrocarbon is used as raw material, together with ethylene for the production of High Density Polyethylene and Low Density Linear Polyethylene.
The 1-Butene production line has been designed and built in a modular way. It consists of 13 modules, which in turn are divided into a total of 21 sections. This plant represents the introduction of a new technology based on the ethylene dimerization reaction for the production of 1-Butene.
The ethylene dimerization reaction is performed selectively to 1-Butene within the reactor by mixing a co-catalyst and a specific catalyst. The co-catalyst component of alkyl aluminum, called TEAL (triethylaluminium), and another called LC-2253 (catalyst owned by Axens), made from a titanium component and a promoter.
The reactor effluent withdrawn from the bottom of the reactor, treated with an amine, should be vaporized to remove all traces of catalysts and waste disposed as spent catalyst (catalyst withdrawal).
The recycle column is fed by the effluent stream from the reactor, free of catalytic residues and separates the noncondensable components by venting them to the burner and the unreacted ethylene by returning it to the reactor and trough the bottom the Butene-1-containing effluent.
The 1-Butene column provides the specification in the heavy components of the final product of 1-Butene. The 1-Butene is withdrawn as a distilled liquid from the top of the column, the cut of C6+ is subtracted at the bottom of the column, both products are sent to a storage area towards the containers arranged for this purpose.