Phillips Petroleum Company

Michael L Facker

Ronald E Miranda

Steven D Bridges

Francis M Brinkmeyer

Gary R Patton

Robert O Dunn

Martin K Lyons

In a process for manufacture of a chemical product, a reactive hydrocarbon feedstream, which varies in composition of the reactive component, is combined with a compatible but unreactive hydrocarbon feedstream to form a blended hydrocarbon stream which is then combined with a reactive alcohol stream of stable concentration of its reactive component, to form a complete feedstream to the reactor. A desired ratio of relative reactant concentrations in the complete feedstream to the reactor is maintained by a control system which maintains a stable concentration in the blended hydrocarbon stream by manipulating flow rate of the unreactive hydrocarbon feedstream responsive to a concentration measurement in the blended hydrocarbon stream. Flow ratio control is then applied to maintain a desired ratio of reactants in the complete feedstream for the reactor by calculating a flow ratio of the blended hydrocarbon stream to the reactive alcohol feedstream. The calculated flow ratio is the process variable input to a manually set ratio controller which manipulates the flow rate of the reactive alcohol feedstream responsive to the flow ratio.

Chemical reactor feed control

A process for producing a high purity ether product. This process includes utilizing an additive stream, which preferably contains isobutane, to alter compositions of the overhead and bottoms products of an etherification effluent fractionator so that the alcohol concentration in the overhead product is less than that of the azeotropic composition.

Production of a high purity ether product

Growing community of inventors

Sugar Land, TX, United States of America

Michael L Facker