Generating renewable naphtha
Methods and systems for generating renewable naphtha are provided herein. Some examples include (a) flowing a renewable fuel intermediate composition over a first fixed-bed catalyst in a first reaction zone to generate a saturated, hydrodeoxygenated product. A liquid portion of the renewable fuel intermediate composition may be characterized as having more than about 70 wt % of the oxygen being within ketone groups. Some examples include (b) flowing the saturated, hydrodeoxygenated product of operation (a) over a second fixed-bed catalyst in a second reaction zone to generate an isomerized product comprising the renewable naphtha. The renewable naphtha may include a mixture of mono-branched C 4 /C 5 /C 6 , mono-branched C 7 /C 8 /C 9 , and multi-branched C 7 /C 8 /C 9 , have a research octane number (RON) in the range of about 60-70, and have a motor octane number (MON) in the range of about 65-75.
1 . A method of generating renewable naphtha, the method comprising:
(a) flowing a renewable fuel intermediate composition over a first fixed-bed catalyst in a first reaction zone to generate a saturated, hydrodeoxygenated product,
a liquid portion of the renewable fuel intermediate composition being characterized as having more than about 70 wt % of the oxygen being within ketone groups; and
(b) flowing the saturated, hydrodeoxygenated product of operation (a) over a second fixed-bed catalyst in a second reaction zone to generate an isomerized product comprising the renewable naphtha,
wherein the renewable naphtha comprises a mixture of mono-branched C 4 /C 5 /C 6 , mono-branched C 7 /C 8 /C 9 , and multi-branched C 7 /C 8 /C 9 , has a research octane number (RON) in the range of about 60-70, and has a motor octane number (MON) in the range of about 65-75, and
wherein operations (a) and (b) are performed adiabatically, wherein a reaction exotherm from operation (a) provides sufficient heat to conduct operation (b).
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising distilling the isomerized product comprising the renewable naphtha to obtain a fraction that consists essentially of the renewable naphtha.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein distilling the isomerized product comprising the renewable naphtha further obtains a fraction that consists essentially of a finished transportation fuel.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second reaction zones are commonly located in a first reaction vessel.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second reaction zones are located in different reaction vessels than one another and are directly coupled to one another via piping, without any intervening processing.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the first reaction zone comprises a first region having the first fixed-bed catalyst under a first set of reaction conditions and a second region having the first fixed-bed catalyst under a second set of reaction conditions.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second reaction zones are at substantially the same pressure as one another and at different temperatures than one another.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a temperature of the renewable fuel intermediate composition entering the first reaction zone is about 100° F. to about 300° F., and is about 50-600° F. lower than a temperature of the saturated, hydrodeoxygenated product of operation (a) entering the second reaction zone.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein liquid hourly space rates in the first and second reaction zones are different than one another.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first fixed-bed catalyst used in operation (a) saturates at least 80% of olefins in the renewable fuel intermediate composition.
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first fixed-bed catalyst used in operation (a) removes at least 70 wt % of oxygen from the renewable fuel intermediate composition.
12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first fixed-bed catalyst used in operation (a) comprises at least one of: a noble metal, a group VI metal, a group VII metal, and a group VIII metal.
13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of operation (a) is performed at a temperature between about 200° F. and about 800° F., a pressure between about 350 psig and about 2500 psig, and a partial pressure of hydrogen between about 50 psia and about 2400 psia.
14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second fixed-bed catalyst used in operation (b) comprises a fixed-bed isomerization catalyst.
15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein operation (b) is performed at a temperature between about 550° F. and about 725° F.
16 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising flowing the isomerized product of operation (b) over a fixed-bed post-treatment catalyst in a third reaction zone.
17 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating the renewable fuel intermediate composition, comprising:
flowing a lipid feedstock into a second reaction vessel comprising a metal oxide catalyst on an oxide support;
using the catalyst in the second reaction vessel to catalytically convert the lipid feedstock to an intermediate mixture.
18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising distilling the intermediate mixture to obtain a fraction that primarily comprises the renewable fuel intermediate composition.
19 . A system for generating renewable naphtha, the system comprising:
a first reaction zone comprising a first fixed-bed catalyst configured to convert a renewable fuel intermediate composition into a saturated, hydrodeoxygenated product; and
a second reaction zone comprising a second fixed-bed catalyst configured to convert the saturated, hydrodeoxygenated product into an isomerized product comprising renewable naphtha;
wherein the renewable naphtha comprises a mixture of mono-branched C 4 /C 5 /C 6 , mono-branched C 7 /C 8 /C 9 , and multi-branched C 7 /C 8 /C 9 , having a research octane number (RON) in the range of about 60-70, and having a motor octane number (MON) in the range of about 65-75, and wherein the first and second reaction zones are adiabatic, wherein a reaction exotherm from the first reaction zone provides sufficient heat to the second reaction zone to generate the product.