Catalytic Distillation: A Government-Industry Success Story

摘要

A cooperative industry/government cost-shared project is described which resulted in the development of an energy-efficient chemical process. Two small Houston, Texas companies have developed an energy-saving Catalytic Distillation process. This process uses a patented catalyst support system to permit a catalytic reaction and a primary fractionation of reaction components simultaneously in one vessel. As a result, one can achieve essentially 100% conversion of an equilibrium reaction in one process step. This process has been installed in a petroleum refinery to produce methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a high octane gasoline blending component formed by combining methanol (MeOH) with isobutylene. The production unit has operated for over two years producing about 1400 BPD of MTBE and is currently demonstrating a net process energy savings of about 25% over a conventional production method. (ERA citation 09:002643)