Novel catafractionation technology for the production of methyl tert-butyl ether

Abstract

Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) is now widely used as a blending stock for the production of high octane and unleaded gasoline. Catalytic distillation techniques have been developed for the production of MTBE to reduce the investment and operation costs. Because the particle size of the catalyst is very small (0.3–1.3 mm in diameter), when it is loaded in the middle reaction section of a catalytic distillation tower, the resistance will be very high, which prevents the liquid and vapour streams flowing countercurrently through the reaction section. For conventional catalytic distillation techniques, the catalyst is packed in a large number of small cloth packages to decrease the flow resistance, which makes the layout rather complicated. In order to solve this problem, a new catafractionation technology was developed. The catalyst is directly stacked loosely in a plurality of catalyst beds in the middle reaction section of the catafractionation tower. A special layout was designed to make the liquid and vapour streams flow through the reaction section countercurrently, in which the reaction, mass and heat transfer take place effeciently. Owing to its simple structure and convenient operation, the investment and operation costs are much lower.