New Catalytic Technology for Producing Xylenes by Transalkylation

Para-xylene demand continues to grow worldwide at a rate of 6-7% per year, with end-use applications in fibers, resins and films. A key consideration for producers of para-xylene is to have sufficient aromatic feeds to achieve the high capacities required by world-scale plants. Nearly 40 years ago, UOP was the first company to include aromatic transalkylation in the flow-scheme to produce para-xylene and co-product benzene. Since that time, significant improvements have been made in catalyst design and process integration. UOP’s most recent catalyst, TA-30, allows producers to achieve higher yields and longer processing cycles than previous generations of technology, while upgrading byproduct streams that would otherwise be downgraded to fuel oil. The high stability of this catalyst allows para-xylene producers who are integrated with refining operations to “re-purpose” idle equipment from gasoline to petrochemicals production. This paper will provide an overview of these advancements.