Production of ether from alcohol and isoolefin in the presence of H2O with H2O/alcohol recycle

摘要

Ether is produced from isoolefins having four to five carbon atoms per molecule, a monohydroxy alcohol having from one to five carbon atoms per molecule and a recycle stream comprising unreacted alcohol and water by passing the stream passed through a etherification zone to produce the desired effluent stream, separating the effluent stream into an ether product and an aqueous product containing unreacted alcohol and recycling a portion of the aqueous product to the etherification zone. Distillation is employed to separate the effluent from the etherification zone into a bottoms product stream, comprising the product ether, a distillate product comprising other hydrocarbons contained in the feed and the above-mentioned aqueous recycle stream. When producing ethyl-tertiary-butyl ether (ETBE), azeotropic grade ethanol, i.e., about 5 vol.% water, is preferably utilized. The utilization of the alcohol/water recycle stream can obviate the need for additional alcohol recovery from the distillate product.