Conversion of waste plastic and oil blend with a contaminant removal step

Abstract

A novel process for the conversion of waste plastics via cofeeding waste plastic melt with a refinery feedstock is provided. The process can generate a mixed product which can be further treated or purified to produce value-added products or chemical precursors.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A process for converting waste plastic in a refinery comprising:
 (a) selecting waste plastics comprising polyethylene and/or polypropylene;   (b) preparing a blend of petroleum based feed and selected waste plastic by mixing and blending the selected waste plastic with the petroleum based feed at a temperature in the range of from 300-450° F., with the blend comprising less than 20 wt. % of the selected waste plastic;   (c) filtering the blend at a temperature ranging from 300-450° F.; and   (d) passing the filtered blend to a refinery conversion unit for conversion of the blend.   
     
     
         2 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein mixing and blending is conducted at a temperature in the range of from 300-400° F. 
     
     
         3 . The process of  claim 2 , wherein the mixing and blending is conducted at a temperature in the range of from 350-400° F. 
     
     
         4 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the filtering is conducted at a temperature in the range of from 300-400° F. 
     
     
         5 . The process of  claim 4 , wherein the filtering is conducted at a temperature in the range of from 350-400° F. 
     
     
         6 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the selected plastics comprise polypropylene, high-density polyethylene, and low-density polyethylene. 
     
     
         7 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the waste plastics selected in (a) comprise less than 5 wt. % plastics from the classification groups  1 ,  3 , and  7 . 
     
     
         8 . The process of  claim 7 , wherein the plastics selected in (a) comprise less than 0.1 wt. % of plastics from classification groups  1 ,  3 , and  7 . 
     
     
         9 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the blend in (b) comprises from 1-10 wt. % of the selected waste plastic. 
     
     
         10 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the blend in (b) comprises from 1-5 wt. % of the selected waste plastic. 
     
     
         11 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the petroleum based feed comprises vacuum gas oil, atmospheric gas oil, or vacuum resid. 
     
     
         12 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the amount of high-density PP added to the refinery feedstock in the blend preparation unit is in the range of from 1-10 wt. % of the blend product. 
     
     
         13 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the refinery conversion unit is a fluid catalytic cracker. 
     
     
         14 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the refinery conversion unit is a high-performance compact reactor for hydrocarbon conversion. 
     
     
         15 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the refinery conversion unit is a coker. 
     
     
         16 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the refinery conversion unit is a hydrocracking unit. 
     
     
         17 . The process of  claim 13 , wherein the mixed blend is filtered via continuous slurry removal, filter press, or centrifuge. 
     
     
         18 . The process of  claim 17 , wherein solids are removed as a filter cake. 
     
     
         19 . The process of  claim 17 , wherein solids are removed in a slurry steam. 
     
     
         20 . The process of  claim 19 , wherein the slurry stream is supplied to a coker. 
     
     
         21 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein a filter is used which comprises a 20-25-micron average pore opening. 
     
     
         22 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein a naphtha fraction is recovered from the refinery conversion unit. 
     
     
         23 . The process of  claim 22 , wherein a portion of the naphtha stream recovered is further processed in the refinery to clean gasoline, diesel, base oil, and/or jet fuel. 
     
     
         24 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein a gasoline fraction is recovered from the refinery conversion unit and is sent to a gasoline blending pool. 
     
     
         25 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the filtered blend in (d) is passed to the refinery conversion unit at a temperature above the melting point of the highest melting plastic in the blend. 
     
     
         26 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the volume flow of the blend to the refinery conversion unit in (d) comprises up to 100 volume % of the total hydrocarbon flow to the conversion unit. 
     
     
         27 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the volume flow of the blend to the refinery conversion unit in (d) comprises up to 50 volume % of the total hydrocarbon flow to the conversion unit. 
     
     
         28 . The process of  claim 26 , wherein the blend flow comprises up to 25 volume % of the total hydrocarbon flow to the conversion unit. 
     
     
         29 . A process for converting waste plastic comprising:
 (a) selecting waste plastics comprising polyethylene and/or polypropylene;   (b) preparing a blend of hydrocarbon feed and selected waste plastic by mixing and blending the selected waste plastic with the hydrocarbon feed at a temperature in the range of from 300-450° F., with the blend comprising less than 20 wt. % of the selected waste plastic;   (c) filtering the blend at a temperature ranging from 300-450° F.; and   (d) passing the filtered blend to a hydrocarbon conversion unit for conversion of the blend.   
     
     
         30 . The process of  claim 29 , wherein the hydrocarbon feed comprises a hydrocarbon feed derived from bio feedstock, coal, natural gas or from plastic pyrolysis. 
     
     
         31 . The process of  claim 30 , wherein the hydrocarbon feed is derived from plastic pyrolysis. 
     
     
         32 . The process of  claim 30 , wherein mixing and blending is conducted at a temperature in the range of from 300-400° F. 
     
     
         33 . The process of  claim 32 , wherein the mixing and blending is conducted at a temperature in the range of from 350-400° F. 
     
     
         34 . The process of  claim 30 , wherein the filtering is conducted at a temperature in the range of from 300-400° F. 
     
     
         35 . The process of  claim 34 , wherein the filtering is conducted at a temperature in the range of from 350-400° F. 
     
     
         36 . The process of  claim 30 , wherein the selected plastics comprise polypropylene, high-density polyethylene, and low-density polyethylene. 
     
     
         37 . The process of  claim 30 , wherein the waste plastics selected in (a) comprise less than 5 wt. % plastics from the classification groups  1 ,  3 , and  7 . 
     
     
         38 . The process of  claim 37 , wherein the plastics selected in (a) comprise less than 0.1 wt. % of plastics from classification groups  1 ,  3 , and  7 . 
     
     
         39 . The process of  claim 30 , wherein the blend in (b) comprises from 1-10 wt. % of the selected waste plastic. 
     
     
         40 . The process of  claim 30 , wherein the blend in (b) comprises from 1-5 wt. % of the selected waste plastic. 
     
     
         41 . The process of  claim 30 , wherein the hydrocarbon conversion unit is a fluid catalytic cracker. 
     
     
         42 . The process of  claim 30  wherein the hydrocarbon conversion unit is a high-performance compact reactor for hydrocarbon conversion. 
     
     
         43 . The process of  claim 30 , wherein the hydrocarbon conversion unit is a coker. 
     
     
         44 . The process of  claim 30 , wherein the hydrocarbon conversion unit is a hydrocracking unit.