Tools for Safely Starting up Pd-Based Acetylene Hydrogenation Catalysts under Extreme Conditions

摘要

The operation of acetylene hydrogenation reactors can be a significant challenge to the startup of ethylene plants. This paper will detail the acetylene reactor operations during a startup at an Eastman facility in Longview, TX. This ethylene plant possesses a "raw gas" configuration and recently underwent various process modifications, part of which was the conversion of the acetylene reactors from a nickel-based to palladium-based catalyst. As the hydrogenation of acetylene occurs prior to distillation of the cracked gas, the minimum inlet temperature to the reactors for this application was approximately 120 ℉ (50 ℃). For a front-end, palladium-based catalyst, this presented a challenge. The steps taken to ensure the safe startup of the reactors will be detailed in this paper. Reactor operations and catalyst performance subsequent to the startup and catalyst selection, including slipstream reactor experiments, will also be discussed. Lastly, the process modifications that impacted the operation of the acetylene reactors will be addressed.