Claims
- 1. A process for producing maleic anhydride from a C.sub.4 hydrocarbon selected from n-butane and n-butene feed which comprises:
- (a) feeding the C.sub.4 hydrocarbon and air to a reactor;
- (b) contacting the C.sub.4 hydrocarbon and air in the reactor with a catalyst comprising vanadium and phosphorus oxides, said vanadium having an average valence in the range from about +3.9 to 4.6, and said oxides having a phosphorus-to-vanadium atomic ratio in the range from about 0.9-1.8 to 1, at reaction conditions including a temperature between 550.degree. and 1000.degree. F. so as to obtain a reactor effluent containing maleic anhydride, unreacted C.sub.4 hydrocarbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and acrylic, acetic or maleic acid or mixtures of the foregoing acids;
- (c) removing maleic anhydride from the reactor effluent to obtain maleic anhydride-lean effluent;
- (d) removing said acids from at least a portion of the maleic anhydride-lean effluent to obtain a purified recycle stream containing less than 100 ppm of the acids by scrubbing the maleic anhydride-lean effluent with water or an aqueous solution of base; and
- (e) recycling the purified stream to the reactor.
- 2. A process in accordance with claim 1 wherein the C.sub.4 hydrocarbon feed is n-butane.
- 3. A process in accordance with claim 2 wherein the maleic anhydride is removed from the reactor effluent to obtain the maleic anhydride-lean effluent solely by countercurrent contacting of the reactor effluent with an organic absorbent to thereby absorb the maleic anhydride into the organic absorbent.
- 4. A process in accordance with claim 1 wherein the acids are removed from the maleic anhydride-lean effluent to obtain a purified recycle stream containing less than 7 ppm acids.
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 645,584, filed Dec. 31, 1975, and now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (3)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
3891680 |
Katsumoto et al. |
Jun 1975 |
|
3904652 |
Frank |
Sep 1975 |
|
3907833 |
Slinkard et al. |
Sep 1975 |
|
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
645584 |
Dec 1975 |
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