METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR RECYCLING PROCESS WATER IN PRODUCTION OF ETHYLENE GLYCOL Russian patent published in 2020 - IPC C07D317/38 C07C31/20 C07C29/10 C07C29/12 B01J8/04 B01D53/18 B01D3/14 

FIELD: chemical or physical processes.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to a method of producing ethylene carbonate and/or ethylene glycol, involving: a) supplying the absorber overhead stream stream, outputting from the absorber, into the vapor-liquid separator to obtain the stream of the water bottom residue and the recycle gas stream; b) feeding an aqueous process stream containing one or more impurities to the distillation apparatus to obtain an impurities overhead stream and a purified aqueous process stream; c) feeding at least a portion of the purified aqueous process stream and the ethylene oxide product stream to the absorber; and d) bringing ethylene oxide product stream into contact with the purified aqueous process stream in the absorber in the presence of one or more carboxylation and hydrolysis catalysts to obtain a saturated absorbent stream, containing ethylene carbonate and/or ethylene glycol, wherein the aqueous process stream fed into the distillation apparatus comprises at least a portion of one or more streams, selected from a group consisting of: a stream of an aqueous still residue, leaving the vapor-liquid separator, a dehydrator overhead stream, outputting from the dehydrator, and a combination thereof. Invention also relates to system of devices for production of ethylene carbonate and/or ethylene glycol, containing: absorber containing one or more carboxylation and hydrolysis catalysts, at least two inlet holes and at least two outlets, wherein the first inlet of the absorber is in fluid communication with the outlet of the ethylene oxide reactor; vapor-liquid separator, comprising an inlet opening and an outlet opening, wherein the inlet of the vapor-liquid separator is in fluid communication with the first outlet of the absorber; and a distillator comprising an inlet and an outlet, wherein the distillation column inlet is in fluid communication with the vapor-liquid separator outlet, and the outlet of the distillation unit is in fluid communication with the second inlet of the absorber.

EFFECT: technical result is a new method of producing ethylene carbonate and/or ethylene glycol with reduced amount of impurities in an aqueous process stream.

9 cl, 2 dwg