Production of tertiary butyl alcohol

摘要

Prodn. of tert. butyl alcohol from isobutane comprises: (a) charging isobutane to an oxidn. reactor and non-catalytically reacting the isobutane with oxygen at 90-150 deg C and 50-1000 psig to provide a prim. liq. reaction prod. contg. 15-25 wt.% tert. butyl alcohol, 13-20 wt.% tert.butylhydroperoxide, 50-65 wt.% unreacted isobutane and 2-5 wt.% of O-contg. by-prods. including ditert. butylperoxide, methanol, methyl formate, acetone and water; (b) distilling the prim. reaction prod. in a first distn. zone to give a first lighter isobutane recycle distn. fraction and a first heavier liq.distn. fraction comprising the remainder of the prim. liq. reaction mixt.; (c) diluting the heavier fraction with recycle diluent tert. butyl alcohol to give a feed mixt. contg. 15-25 wt.% tert.butylhydroperoxide, 75-85 wt.% tert.butyl alcohol and minor amt. of O-contg. impurities: (d) charging the feed mixt. to a hydroperoxide decompsn. reactor and contacting it with a pelleted solid heterogeneous peroxide decompsn. catalyst at 25-250 deg C., space velocity 0.5-5 vol. charge stock per vol. catalyst per hr. and pressure 20-1000 psig. to obtain a final reaction mixt. contg. tert. butyl alcohol and a minor amt. of oxygen-contg. by-prods.; (e) distilling the final reaction mixt. in a second distillation zone to provide a lighter overhead distillation fraction comprising oxygen and vaporised normally liq. components and a heavier distn. fraction comprising tert. butyl alcohol and residual amts. of peroxide contaminants; (f) distilling the heavier distillation fraction in a third distillation zone to provide an overhead tert. butyl alcohol distillation fraction comprising purified tert. butyl alcohol and a bottoms distillation fraction comprising heavier reaction by-prods. and contaminants; (g) recycling part of the overhead tert.butyl alcohol distillation fraction to the first heavier liq. distn. fraction as the recycle diluent tert. butyl alcohol; (h) recycling part of the bottoms distillation fraction to the hydroperoxide decompsn. reactor; and (i) recovering the remaining part of the overhead tert. butyl alcohol distillation fraction.