Use of a second stage reactor in the manufacture and recovery of methyl tertiary butyl ether

摘要

Methyl tertiary butyl ether MTBE) is prepared from tertiary butyl alcohol (tBA) and methanol (MeOH) by passing a feed mixture comprising tBA and MeOH through a primary MTBE reaction zone to form a primary reaction product containing MTBE, unreacted tBA, unreacted MeOH, isobutylene and water; the primary reaction product is fractionated to provide a first lighter distillation fraction comprising isobutylene, MeOH and MTBE and a first higher boiling distillation fraction comprising MeOH, tBA and water and the first higher boiling distillation fraction is charged to a second stage MTBE reaction zone to form a second stage reaction product comprising unreacted MeOH, unreacted tBA, water, isobutylene and MTBE.