Process for production of mixed butanols and diisobutenes as fuel blending components

Abstract

A process for simultaneously hydrating and oligomerizing a hydrocarbon feed comprising mixed olefins incudes the steps of: (a) introducing the hydrocarbon feed in the presence of water into a fixed bed; (b) contacting the hydrocarbon feed with a catalyst within said fixed bed reactor, where the catalyst is of the type that hydrates the mixed olefins to form mixed alcohols and oligomerizes at least a portion of the mixed olefins into oligomers to produce a first product stream that includes an organic phase and an aqueous phase; (c) introducing the first product stream into a first separator which separates the organic phase from the aqueous phase; (d) introducing the separated organic phase into a second separator which separates unreacted olefins from mixed alcohols and one or more oligomers which comprise a final product stream; and (e) introducing the separated aqueous phase into a third separator which separates an alcohol-water azeotrope component from water.