Texaco Chemical Company

Huntsman Specialty Chemicals Corporation

Melvin Ernest Stockton

John R Sanderson

John F Knifton

Mark E Taylor

Rei-Yu Judy Hwan

Methyl tertiary butyl ether is prepared from contaminated TBA by reactively distilling the contaminated TBA in a reactive distillation column to provide a lower boiling isobutylene fraction and a higher boiling aqueous TBA fraction, by distilling the higher boiling aqueous TBA fraction to provide a lower boiling TBA fraction, by charging the lower boiling isobutylene fraction, the lower boiling tertiary butyl alcohol fraction and methanol to an etherification reactor to form an etherification reaction product, by distilling the etherification reaction product to provide a lower boiling fraction containing isobutylene, methanol and methyl tertiary butyl ether by charging the lower boiling fraction to a finishing reactor to react the isobutylene and methanol contained therein to from additional MTBE and by recovering MTBE from the etherification reaction product and the isobutylene conversion product.

Method for the manufacture of methyl tertiary butyl ether from tertiary

A tertiary butyl alcohol feedstock is dehydrated to form isobutylene and water in a reactive distillation column having a reactive distillation section in the middle portion thereof containing a bed of a TBA dehydration catalyst and a substantially anhydrous lower boiling isobutylene fraction is recovered adjacent the top of the reactive distillation column and a higher boiling aqueous fraction is recovered adjacent the bottom of the reactive distillation column.

Use of reactive distillation in the dehydration of tertiary butyl alcohol

Tertiary butyl alcohol contaminated with residual amounts of peroxide contaminants such as tertiary butyl hydroperoxide, ditertiary butyl peroxide, allyl tertiary butyl peroxide, etc., (which may be prepared, for example, by catalytically reacting propylene with tertiary butyl hydroperoxide to form propylene oxide and tertiary butyl alcohol) can be effectively catalytically treated under mild conversion conditions including a temperature of about 100.degree. to about 300.degree. C. with a catalyst comprising ferrous oxide to substantially completely decompose the peroxide contaminants to thereby provide a treated tertiary butyl alcohol product substantially free from contaminating quantities of such peroxides.

Catalytic removal of peroxide contaminants from tertiary butyl alcohol

A method for preparing tertiary butyl alcohol wherein a solution of a tertiary butyl hydroperoxide in tertiary butyl alcohol is charged to a hydroperoxide decomposition reaction zone containing a catalytically effective amount of a hydroperoxide decomposition catalyst consisting essentially of a superconductor such as a superconductor consisting essentially of the oxides of strontium, calcium, copper and bismuth and is brought into contact with the superconductor type catalyst in liquid phase with agitation under hydroperoxide decomposition reaction conditions to convert the tertiary butyl hydroperoxide to decomposition products, principally tertiary butyl alcohol.

Growing community of inventors

Georgetown, TX, United States of America

Melvin Ernest Stockton