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US 6,583,325 B1Granted
Process for the production of tertiary alkyl ethers
AssigneeCatalytic Distillation Technologies
InventorsLawrence A. Smith, Jr., Hugh M. Putman, Henry J. Semerak, Clifford S. Crossland
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Abstract
A process for the production of tertiary ethers from the reaction of isoolefins with lower alcohols, such as methanol, uses two distillation column reactors in series to maximize conversion, especially for isopentenes and isohexenes. The second distillation column reactor may be concurrently used as a C5 polishing reactor and a reactor for producing MTBE or ETBE from isobutene, for example.
Claims5
A process for the production of tertiary ethers comprising the steps of:
- (a) feeding a stream comprising a C5-6 stream containing isoolefins and C1-C6 alcohol to a first distillation column reactor containing a first bed of etherification catalyst in a first distillation reaction zone;
- (b) concurrently in said first distillation column reactor
- (i) reacting a portion of the isoolefins with a portion of the methanol to form a tertiary ether, and
- (ii) separating the tertiary ether product from unreacted isoolefins and unreacted methanol by fractional distillation;
- (c) withdrawing the tertiary ether product from the first distillation column reactor as a first bottoms;
- (d) withdrawing the unreacted isoolefins and unreacted methanol from the first distillation column reactor as a first overheads;
- (e) feeding the first overheads and a C4 stream containing isobutene to a second distillation column reactor containing a second bed of etherification catalyst in a second distillation reaction zone;
- (f) concurrently in said second distillation column reactor
- (i) reacting more of the unreacted isoolefins and said isobutene with more of the unreacted alcohol to form additional tertiary ether, and
- (ii) separating the additional tertiary ether product from unreacted isoolefins and unreacted methanol by fractional distillation;
- (g) withdrawing the additional tertiary ether product from the second distillation column reactor as a second bottoms;
- (h) withdrawing the unreacted isoolefins and unreacted alcohol from the second distillation column reactor as a second overheads.
9 more elements
A process for the production of methyl tertiary butyl ether, tertiary amyl methyl ether and tertiary hexyl methyl ether comprising the steps of:
- (a) feeding a stream containing C5 and C6 isoolefins and methanol to a first boiling point reactor containing an etherification catalyst wherein a portion of the C5 and C6 isoolefins are reacted with methanol to produce a first effluent stream containing unreacted C5 and C6 isoolefins, unreacted methanol, tertiary amyl methyl ether and tertiary hexyl methyl ether;
- (b) feeding said first effluent stream to a first distillation column reactor containing a first bed of etherification catalyst in a first distillation reaction zone;
- (c) concurrently in said first distillation column reactor
- (i) reacting additional C5 and C6 isoolefins with a methanol to form additional tertiary amyl methyl ether and tertiary hexyl methyl ether and
- (ii) separating the tertiary ether products from unreacted C5 isoolefins and unreacted methanol by fractional distillation;
- (d) withdrawing the tertiary ether products from the first distillation column reactor as a first bottoms;
- (e) withdrawing the unreacted C5 isoolefins and unreacted methanol from the first distillation column reactor as a first overheads;
- (f) feeding the first overheads and a stream containing isobutene to a second boiling point reactor containing an etherification catalyst wherein additional C5 isoolefins and isobutene are reacted with methanol to produce a second effluent containing unreacted isobutene, unreacted C5 isoolefins, methyl tertiary butyl ether, tertiary amyl methyl ether and unreacted methanol;
- (g) feeding the second effluent to a second distillation column reactor containing a second bed of etherification catalyst in a second distillation reaction zone;
- (h) concurrently in said second distillation column reactor
- (i) reacting more of the unreacted isobutene and unreacted C5 isoolefins with methanol to produce additional methyl tertiary butyl ether and tertiary amyl methyl ether products and
- (ii) separating the additional tertiary ether products from unreacted C4's and unreacted C5 isoolefins and unreacted methanol by fractional distillation;
- (i) withdrawing the additional tertiary ether products and unreacted C5's from said second distillation column reactor as a second bottoms;
- and
- (j) withdrawing unreacted C4's and unreacted methanol from said second distillation column reactor as a second overheads.
12 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.