Alcohol production process integrating acetic acid feed stream comprising water from carbonylation process

• Main Authors: JEVTIC RADMILA, SHAVER RONALD DAVID, WEINER HEIKO, SCATES MARK O, PAN TIANSHU, WARNER R. JAY, JOHNSTON VICTOR J, CHAPMAN JOSEFINA T
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 29.10.2013
• Subjects: ACYCLIC OR CARBOCYCLIC COMPOUNDS; CHEMISTRY; CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION ORPROCESSING OF GOODS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; METALLURGY; ORGANIC CHEMISTRY; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINSTCLIMATE CHANGE

In one embodiment, the invention is to a process for producing ethanol, comprising the step of providing from a distillation column in a carbonylation process a purified acetic acid stream comprising up to 25 wt. % water. The process further comprises the step of hydrogenating acetic acid of the purified acetic acid stream in the presence of a catalyst and under conditions effective to form a crude ethanol product comprising ethanol and water. Ethanol is recovered from the crude ethanol product.