PROCESS FOR THE PREPARATION OF MTBE

摘要

A process is provided for etherification of essentially pure iC4<=> with MeOH to form MTBE in a distillation column reactor containing a fixed bed acid cation exchange resin as a catalytic distillation structure in an a distillation reaction zone. An inert C4 hydrocarbon is initially fed to the distillation column reactor to act as a diluent and a heat sink which boils at the desired temperature range for the reaction. Additionally the inert C4 diluent acts as an azeotroping agent for the MeOH in the lower end of the column carrying more of the MeOH back up into the reaction distillation zone. After start up and circulation the inert C4 hydrocarbon feed is stopped and that in the system is retained therein by total reflux of the overheads and judicious operation of the lower portion of the distillation column reactor.