FIELD: chemistry.
SUBSTANCE: invention relates to a method of producing one or more olefins from an oxygenate feed. The method involves: a) providing an oxygenate stream; b) adding a recycle stream containing propane and dimethyl ether to the oxygenate stream to form a feed stream; c) contacting the feed stream with an oxygenate-to-olefin catalyst in a reactor to form an olefin stream containing dimethyl ether, at least one olefin, and propane, wherein the propane in the olefin stream is in excess of that in the feed stream; d) separating at least a large portion of the propane and dimethyl ether from the olefin stream to form a propane/DME-containing stream; and e) removing a portion of propane and/or DME from the propane/DME-containing stream in an amount which is at least equal to the excess of propane formed at step c) to form the recycle stream.
EFFECT: use of the present method enables more efficient separation and/or enables to recycle DME for use thereof as raw material for the oxygenate-to-olefin process.
8 cl, 2 dwg
