Modeling and simulation of tubular reactor in the tert-amyl methyl ether synthesis process

The influences of operating variables and the limitation of dual-tubular re actors in series for the tert-amyl methyl ether (TAME) synthesis process we re investigated by computer simulation. The feed for the process is the Cg cut Of naphtha cracker (pyrolysis gasoline) followed with selective hydroge nation. The species in the feed were identified by gas chromatography, and the mole fraction data were used for activity coefficient calculation. The kinetic model proposed by Rihko et al. was used to simulate the tubular rea ctor in the TAME process, whereas the equations for the calculation of the mole-fraction-dependent activity coefficients were incorporated into the mo del. The reliability of this work for the activity coefficient calculation was justified by performance tests of a commercial plant, while the validat ion of the model was further checked by the normal operation results of the plant. The investigation of operating variables, such as the molar ratio o f methanol to isoamylene, space velocity, and feed temperature, indicated t hat the effect of operating variables of the first reactor on isoamylene co nversion is much more significant than that of the second one. Moreover, af ter the optimization of the first reactor, the isoamylene conversion in the second reactor is only about 8.5%. The results suggest that for the improv ement of process efficiency, the replacement of the second reactor with a c atalytic distillation tower is necessary.