Claims
- 1. A process for preparing a catalyst useful in the fluorination of an organic compound comprising exposing a catalytically active compound to a first activating agent at about the operating temperature and pressure of the catalyst under conditions effective to achieve substantially steady state conditions at about said operating temperature and pressure.
- 2. The process in accordance with claim 1 wherein said activating agent is substantially free of reactive organic compounds.
- 3. The process in accordance with claim 1 wherein said exposing step comprises exposing the compound to a first activating agent at a first pressure substantially below the operating pressure of the organic fluorination reaction and removing from said catalytically active compound first said activating agent.
- 4. The process in accordance with claim 1 wherein said exposing step further comprises, subsequent to said low pressure exposing step, exposing said catalytically active compound to a second activating agent, which is the same as or different than the first activating agent, at a second pressure substantially above said first pressure and removing from said catalytically active compound said second activating agent.
- 5. The process of claim 4 further comprising separating a substantial portion of any water present in the activating agent removed from the catalyst in said high pressure removing step into a water rich product and a water lean product and recycling at least a portion of said water lean product to said high pressure exposing step.
- 6. A process for preparing a catalyst useful in the fluorination of an organic molecule with hydrogen fluoride comprising:
a. fluorinating a catalytically active compound with a first activating gas at a first pressure substantially below the operating pressure of the organic fluorination reaction to produce a reaction product comprising activating gas and water; b. substantially avoiding recycling any substantial portion of said water to said fluorination step (a); c. fluorinating the catalytically active compound with a second activating gas, which is the same as or different than the first activating gas, at a second pressure substantially above said first pressure to produce a reaction product containing activating gas and water; and d. separating a substantial portion of the water present in the reaction product of fluorination step (c) into a water rich product and a water lean product and recycling at least a portion of said water lean product to reaction step (c).
- 7. A process for activating a chromium oxyfluoride catalyst to produce an activated catalyst useful in the vapor phase fluorination reaction of a halohydrocarbon with hydrogen fluoride comprising:
a. drying the catalyst to obtain a substantially moisture free catalyst; b. fluorinating the dried catalyst with a first activating gas at a first pressure substantially below the operating pressure of the catalyst to produce a reaction product containing activating gas and water while maintaining the temperature of the catalyst below about 215° C. for a time sufficient to achieve a substantially constant catalyst temperature under adiabatic conditions; c. substantially avoiding recycling of any reaction product of the fluorination step (b) to said step (b); d. fluorinating the dried catalyst with a second activating gas, which is the same as or different than the first activating gas, at a second pressure substantially above said first pressure to produce a reaction product containing activating gas and water while maintaining the temperature of the catalyst above about 215° C. and below about 700° F. for a time sufficient to achieve a substantially constant catalyst temperature under adiabatic conditions; and e. separating a substantial portion of the water present in the reaction product of fluorination step (d) into a water rich product and a water lean product and recycling at least a portion of said water lean product to reaction step (d).
- 8. A process for activating a fluorination catalyst to produce an activated catalyst useful in the vapor phase fluorination of a halohydrocarbon with hydrogen fluoride comprising:
a. loading untreated catalyst into a fluorination reaction vessel; b. drying the catalyst by: (1) passing nitrogen gas over the catalyst at about atmospheric pressure and a temperature of from about 175° F. to about 212° F. for about 18 to about 36 hours; and then (2) heating said nitrogen gas to a temperature of about 660° F. and passing said heated nitrogen gas over said catalyst for about 8 hours; c. cooling the heated catalyst of step (b) to a temperature of about 350° F.; d. passing over the cooled catalyst of step (c) an activating gas at about atmospheric pressure while maintaining the temperature of the catalyst below about 420° F. for a time sufficient to achieve a substantially constant catalyst temperature under adiabatic conditions, said first activating gas comprising from about 75 wt. % to about 99 wt. % of nitrogen and from about 1 wt. % to about 25 wt. % of hydrogen fluoride; e. increasing the temperature of the catalyst produced in step (d) to about 660° F. while maintaining said catalyst at about atmospheric pressure and while passing over the catalyst an activating gas comprising about 75 wt. % nitrogen and about 25 wt. % hydrogen fluoride for a time sufficient to achieve a substantially constant catalyst temperature under adiabatic conditions; f. cooling the catalyst produced in step (e) to a temperature of about 450° F.; and g. passing over the catalyst a second activating gas consisting essentially of fresh hydrogen fluoride and recycled dehydrated hydrogen fluoride at about a pressure of from about 30 psig to about 100 psig while maintaining the temperature of the catalyst at a temperature which is not substantially greater than the desired fluorination reaction temperature for a time sufficient to achieve a substantially constant catalyst temperature under adiabatic conditions.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 60/301,586 which was filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Jun. 28, 2001 and which is incorporated herein by reference.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60301586 |
Jun 2001 |
US |