NOVEL CATAFRACTIONATION TECHNOLOGY FOR THE PRODUCTION OF METHYL TERT-BUTYL ETHER

Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) is now widely used as a blending stock for the production of high octane and unleaded gasoline. Catalytic dis tillation 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 loa ded 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 co nventional catalytic distillation techniques, the catalyst is packed i n a large number of small cloth packages to decrease the flow resistan ce, which makes the layout rather complicated. In order to solve this problem, a new catafractionation technology was developed. The catalys t is directly stacked loosely in a plurality of catalyst beds in the m iddle reaction section of the catafractionation tower. A special layou t was designed to make the liquid and vapour streams flow through the reaction section countercurrently, in which the reaction, mass and hea t transfer take place efficiently. Owing to its simple structure and c onvenient operation, the investment and operation costs are much lower .