Menetelmä ja laitteisto tertiaaristen alkyylieetterien valmistamiseksi

摘要

The invention relates to a process and an apparatus for preparing tertiary alkyl ethers in a catalytic distillation reactor system comprising a distillation column and at least one first reaction zone connected thereto and containing a catalyst which is comprised of cation exchange resin. According to the process, the C5 to C8 isoolefines contained in the hydrocarbon feedstock are reacted with lower alkanols in order to produce the corresponding ethers within said reaction zone, and the ether product is removed from the bottom of the column. According to the invention a side draw is taken from the lower part of the column and conducted to a separator where the side draw is divided into a low-boiling fraction and a high-boiling fraction. At least a part of the high-boiling fraction is returned to the column and at least a part of the low-boiling fraction is conducted to at least one second reaction zone where it is subjected to an etherification reaction in the presence of a catalyst, after which it is returned to the distillation column. The invention can be used to increase the conversion of the hydrocarbon feed components, in the preparation of TAME that of 2-methyl-2-butene (2M2B) in particular.