Reactor system, an absorbent and a process for reacting a feed

1. A process for reacting a feed comprising a hydrocarbon, which process comprises:

contacting the feed with an absorbent comprising silver, an alkali or alkaline earth metal, and a support material having a surface area of more than 20 m 2 /g positioned within a purification zone of a reactor system to reduce the quantity of one or more impurities in the feed; and

subsequently contacting the feed with a catalyst positioned downstream from the purification zone to yield a reaction product.

2. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon is an olefin; wherein the reaction product comprises an olefin oxide; and wherein the feed further comprises oxygen.

3. The process as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the hydrocarbon further comprises a saturated hydrocarbon selected from the group consisting of methane, ethane, propane, butane, pentane, hexane, heptane, octane, nonane, decane, undecane, dodecane, and mixtures thereof; and wherein the feed further comprises a reaction modifier and a recycle gas stream.

4. The process as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the catalyst has a greater silver density than the absorbent; wherein the purification zone comprises a first purification zone and a second purification zone; and wherein the process further comprises:

contacting the olefin with the absorbent positioned inside the first purification zone at a temperature in the range of from 0 to 350° C.; and

separately contacting the oxygen with the absorbent positioned inside the second purification zone at a temperature in the range of from 190 to 350° C.

5. The process as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the process further comprises converting the olefin oxide to a 1,2-diol, a 1,2-diol ether, a 1,2-carbonate, or an alkanolamine.

6. The process as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the oxygen is present in a quantity of at least 0.5 mole-%, relative to the total feed.

7. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the purification zone and the catalyst are positioned inside a shell-and-tube heat exchanger reactor vessel.

8. The process as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the temperature of the absorbent in the purification zone is at least 90° C.

9. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the feed is contacted with the catalyst in a reaction zone positioned downstream from the purification zone, and wherein the temperature in the reaction zone is at least 130° C.

10. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the absorbent is in the form of a packed bed.

11. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the catalyst comprises a carrier and silver in a quantity of at least 0.025 g Ag/m 2 relative to the surface area of the carrier; and wherein the absorbent comprises silver in a quantity of less than 0.025 g Ag/m 2 relative to the surface area of the support material.

12. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the catalyst comprises silver and one or more selectivity enhancing dopants selected from the group consisting of rhenium, molybdenum, tungsten, chromium, nitrate-forming compounds, nitrite-forming compounds, and combinations thereof.

13. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the support material has a surface area of at least 25 m 2 /g.

14. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the support material has a surface area of 50 to 1200 m 2 /g.

15. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the feed further comprises at least one impurity selected from the group consisting of a sulfur impurity and a halogen impurity.

16. A process for reacting a feed comprising an olefin, oxygen and an impurity, which process comprises:

contacting the feed with an absorbent comprising silver, an alkali or alkaline earth metal, and a support material having a surface area of more than 20 m 2 /g positioned within a purification zone of a reactor system to reduce the quantity of the impurity in the feed; and

subsequently contacting the feed with an epoxidation catalyst positioned downstream from the purification zone to yield an olefin oxide.

17. The process as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the feed comprises at least one impurity selected from the group consisting of a sulfur impurity and a halogen impurity.

18. The process as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the process further comprises converting the olefin oxide to a 1,2-diol, a 1,2-diol ether, a 1,2-carbonate, or an alkanolamine.

19. The process as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the olefin is ethylene.

20. The process as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the support material has a surface area of 50 to 1200 m 2 /g.