Production of jet and other heavy fuels from isobutanol

A process for the production of jet and other heavy fuels, the process comprising:

• feeding isobutanol to a catalytic distillation reactor system having at least one reaction zone containing a first catalyst;
• concurrently in the catalytic distillation reactor system:
• contacting the isobutanol with the first catalyst to convert at least a portion of the isobutanol to isobutylene, dimers of isobutylene, and water;
• fractionating the isobutylene and the water from the dimers of isobutylene;
• recovering the isobutylene and the water as an overheads fraction from the catalytic distillation reactor system;
• recovering the isobutylene dimers as a bottoms fraction from the catalytic distillation reactor system;
• feeding the bottoms fraction to a first reactor having at least one reaction zone containing a second catalyst, wherein the second catalyst comprises at least one of a metal modified resin catalyst, phosphoric acid treated clay, and HF treated clay;
• contacting the bottoms fraction with the second catalyst at a temperature in the range of 0° C. to 200° C. to convert at least a portion of the isobutylene dimers to trimers of isobutylene via the reaction pathway:
• 3 isobutylene dimer→2 isobutylene trimer;
• recovering an effluent from the reactor comprising the isobutylene trimers and any unreacted isobutylene dimers;
• feeding hydrogen and at least a portion of the effluent from the first reactor to a second reactor having at least one reaction zone containing a third catalyst;
• contacting the hydrogen and the effluent from the first reactor with the third catalyst to hydrogenate at least a portion of the isobutylene trimers to C12 paraffins and to hydrogenate at least a portion of any unreacted isobutylene dimers in the effluent to C8 paraffins;
• recovering an effluent from the second reactor comprising the C8 and C12 paraffins;
• separating the effluent from the second reactor in a fractionators;
• recovering the C8 paraffins as an overheads fraction from the fractionator;
• and
• recovering the C12 paraffins as a bottoms fraction from the fractionator.

A process for the production of jet and other heavy fuels, the process comprising:

• feeding isobutanol to a catalytic distillation reactor system having at least one reaction zone containing a first catalyst;
• concurrently in the catalytic distillation reactor system:
• contacting the isobutanol with the first catalyst to:
• a) convert at least a portion of the isobutanol to isobutylene and water,
• b) react the isobutylene produced to form dimers of isobutylene, and
• c) reacting a portion of the isobutylene or dimers of isobutylene produced with isobutanol to form ethers;
• fractionating the isobutylene and the water from the ethers and the dimers of isobutylene;
• recovering the ethers and the isobutylene dimers as a bottoms fraction from the catalytic distillation reactor system;
• recovering the isobutylene and the water as an overheads fraction from the catalytic distillation reactor system;
• separating the overheads fraction to recover a water fraction and an isobutylene fraction;
• feeding the isobutylene fraction to a first reactor having at least one reaction zone containing a second catalyst having activity for dissociation and alkylation, wherein the second catalyst comprises at least one of a metal modified resin catalyst, phosphoric acid treated clay, and HF treated clay;
• contacting the isobutylene fraction with the second catalyst at a temperature in the range of 0° C. to 200° C. to convert at least a portion of the isobutylene to dimers of isobutylene, and to convert at least a portion of the dimers of isobutylene to trimers of isobutylene via the reaction pathway:
• 3 isobutylene dimer→2 isobutylene trimer;
• recovering an effluent from the first reactor comprising the isobutylene dimers and trimers and any unreacted isobutylene;
• feeding hydrogen and at least a portion of the effluent from the first reactor to a second reactor having at least one reaction zone containing a third catalyst;
• contacting the hydrogen and the effluent from the first reactor with the third catalyst to hydrogenate at least a portion of the isobutylene dimers and trimers to paraffins;
• recovering an effluent from the second reactor comprising C8 and C12 paraffins;
• separating the effluent from the second reactor in a fractionator;
• recovering the C8 paraffins as an overheads fraction from the fractionator, and
• recovering the C12 paraffins as a bottoms fraction from the fractionator.