| abstract |
A method for producing ethylbenzene (EB) comprising introducing to an oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) reactor an OCM reactant mixture comprising CH 4 and O 2 ; allowing the OCM reactant mixture to react via OCM reaction to form an OCM product mixture comprising C 2 H 4 , C 2 H 6 , water, CO, CO 2 and unreacted methane; separating the water and optionally CO and/or CO 2 from the OCM product mixture to yield an EB reactant mixture comprising C 2 H 4 , C 2 H 6 , unreacted methane, and optionally CO and/or CO 2 ; (d) introducing benzene and an EB reactant mixture to an EB reactor; allowing benzene to react in a liquid phase with the ethylene of the EB reactant mixture to form EB; recovering from the EB reactor an EB product mixture comprising EB and unreacted benzene, and an unreacted alkanes mixture comprising C 2 H 6 and unreacted methane, and optionally CO and/or CO 2 ; and optionally recycling the unreacted alkanes mixture to the OCM reactor. |