Process for the production of ethers
AssigneeMobil Oil Corporation
InventorsTracy J. Huang, Charles M. Sorensen, Philip Varghese
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Olefins undergo conversion in the presence of water and recycled alcohol to a mixture of alcohol and ether which is then subjected to various downstream operations including distillation and extraction or decantation to provide an ether-rich product containing little if any alcohol or water. The foregoing process is especially suitable to the conversion of propylene and propylene-containing streams to diisopropyl ether which is useful, inter alia, as an octane improver for gasoline.
Claims29
A process for producing ether containing at most negligible amounts of alcohol and water which comprises:
- (a) contacting at least one light olefin with water and product alcohol recovered from a downstream distillation operation in an olefin conversion unit in the presence of an acidic zeolite as catalyst to provide an aqueous mixture of product alcohol and ether, the olefin conversion unit being operated under conditions which are effective to provide product alcohol by the reaction of olefin and water therein and ether by the dehydration of recycled product alcohol and/or by the reaction of olefin and recycled product alcohol therein;
- (b) introducing the aqueous mixture of product alcohol and ether into a distillation unit operated under conditions which are effective to provide an azeotropic overheads fraction comprising ether and minor amounts of product alcohol and water, and a bottoms fraction comprising aqueous product alcohol;
- (c) introducing at least a portion of the bottoms fraction comprising aqueous product alcohol into the olefin conversion unit;
- and,
- (d) introducing the azeotropic overheads fraction comprising ether and minor amounts of product alcohol and water in a product alcohol separation unit operated under conditions which are effective to provide an ether product containing at most negligible amounts of product alcohol, and aqueous product alcohol,
- provided, the rate of introduction of product alcohol into the olefin conversion unit is sufficiently high as to increase the overall yield of ether.
A process for producing diisopropyl ether containing at most negligible amounts of isopropyl alcohol and water which comprises
- (a) contacting propylene with water and product isopropyl alcohol recovered from a downstream distillation operation in a propylene conversion unit in the presence of an acidic zeolite as catalyst to provide an aqueous mixture of product isopropyl alcohol and diisopropyl ether, the propylene conversion unit being operated under conditions which are effective to provide product isopropyl alcohol by the reaction of propylene and water therein and diisopropyl ether by the dehydration of recycled product isopropyl alcohol and/or by the reaction of propylene and recycled product isopropyl alcohol therein;
- (b) introducing the aqueous mixture of product isopropyl alcohol and diisopropyl ether into a distillation unit operated under conditions which are effective to provide an azeotropic overheads fraction comprising diisopropyl ether and minor amounts of product isopropyl alcohol, and a bottom fraction comprising aqueous product isopropyl alcohol;
- (c) introducing at least a portion of the bottoms fraction comprising aqueous product isopropyl alcohol into the propylene conversion unit;
- and,
- (d) introducing the azeotropic overheads fraction comprising a diisopropyl ether and minor amount of product isopropyl alcohol and water in a product isopropyl alcohol separation unit operated under conditions which are effective to provide diisopropyl ether product containing at most negligible amounts of product isopropyl alcohol, and aqueous isopropyl alcohol,
- provided, the rate of introduction of product isopropyl alcohol into the propylene conversion unit is sufficiently high as to increase the overall yield of diisopropyl ether.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.