Sulfur injection in fluidization bed dehydrogenation on chromium catalyst for dehydrogenation process improvement and process scheme optimization

A process for producing isobutylene, the process comprising:

• (a) combining a sulfur-free hydrocarbon stream comprising isobutane with a sulfur containing hydrocarbon stream comprising isobutane to form a reactant feed stream;
• and contacting the reactant feed stream with a dehydrogenation catalyst under conditions sufficient to produce a product stream comprising isobutylene;
• (b) optionally separating the isobutylene from the product stream of step (a);
• (c) contacting the product stream comprising isobutylene from step (a) and or isobutylene from step (b) with methanol to produce a product stream comprising methyl tert-butyl ether and an unreacted product stream comprising isobutane;
• and
• (d) contacting the unreacted product stream comprising isobutane with the dehydrogenation catalyst under conditions sufficient to convert the isobutane to isobutylene and produce an isobutylene product stream.