Da. Berg et Tj. Harris, CHARACTERIZATION OF MULTICOMPONENT DIFFUSION EFFECTS IN MTBE SYNTHESIS, Industrial & engineering chemistry research, 32(9), 1993, pp. 2147-2158
The application of multicomponent diffusion theory to characterize int
racatalyst mass-transfer resistances in the liquid-phase synthesis of
methyl tert-butyl ether using acidic ion exchange resins is discussed.
By formulation of invariant solutions to the multicomponent conservat
ion equations, the system of coupled differential equations is reduced
to a single ordinary differential equation and solved using orthogona
l collocation. The parameters characterizing the invariant solutions a
re shown to yield significant, insight into the nature of the diffusio
n processes and illustrate the importance of accounting for multicompo
nent diffusion effects. A comparison between model predictions and pub
lished experimental data indicates good agreement between model and ex
periment in the limit where diffusion of methanol is rate limiting.