Simulation of Ethyl Tert-Butyl Ether Production from Tert-Butyl Alcohol and Ethanol in Reactive Distillation

  • Suttichai Assabumrungrat Center of Excellence in Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering, Department of Chemical engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University
  • Varong Pavarajarn Center of Excellence in Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering, Department of Chemical engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University
  • Darin Wongwattanasate Center of Excellence in Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering, Department of Chemical engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University
  • Piyasan Praserthdam Center of Excellence in Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering, Department of Chemical engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University
Keywords: B-zeolite, thyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE) synthesis, reactive distillation

Abstract

Reactive distillation was applied for the synthesis of ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE) from a liquid-phase reaction between tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) and ethanol (EtOH) catalyzed by commercial ~-zeolite catalyst with Si/AI ratio of 55. The major side reaction of this system was the dehydration of TBA to isobutene (lB). From the present researchers' previous work, it was found that B-zeolite was superior to commercial Amberlyst-15 catalyst in reaction selectivity. The kinetic parameters for the reactions, which were determined using a semibatch reactor operated at various temperatures, were used for simulation in Aspen Plus TN program. Various operating parameters, such as heat duty, molar ratio of Hz0: EtOH, and refluxratio, were investigatedfor their effectson reactive distillation performance. Keywords: ,B-zeolite,ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE) synthesis, and reactive distillation.

References

1. Assabumrungrat, S., Kiatkittipong, W., Srivitoon, N., Praserthdam, P., Phatanasri, S., and Goto, S. (2002). "Kinetics of liquid-phase synthesis of ethyl tert-butyl ether from tert-butyl alcohol and ethanol catalyzed by supported ß-zeolite,” Int. J. Chem. Kinetics, 34, 292-299.
2. Bisowarno, B. H., and Tade, M. O. (2000). "Dynamic simulation of startup in ethyl tert-butyl ether reactive distillation with input multiplicity," Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 39, 1950–1954.
3. Cunill, F., Vila, M., Izquierdo, J. F., Iborra, M., and Tejero, J. (1993). “Effect of water-presence on methyl tert-butyl ether and ethyl tert-butyl ether liquid phase syntheses," Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 32, 564-569.
4. Matoug, M., Quitain, A., Takahashi, K., and Goto, S. (1996). "Reactive distillation for synthesizing ethyl tert-butyl ether from low-grade alcohol catalyzed by potassium hydrogen sulfate," Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 35, 982-984.
5. Norris, J. F., and Rigby, G. W. (1953). "The reactivity of atoms and groups in organic compounds," J. Am. Chem. Soc., 54, 2088-2100.
6. Quitain, A., Itoh, H., and Goto, S. (1999a). “Reactive distillation for synthesizing ethyl tert-butyl ether from bioethanol," J. Chem. Eng. Japan, 32, 280-287.
7. Quitain, A., Itoh, H., and Goto, S. (1999). "Industrial-scale simulation of proposed process for synthesizing ethyl tert-butyl ether from bioethanol," J. Chem. Eng. Japan, 32, 539-543.
8. Sneesby, M. G., Tade, M. O., and Smith, T. N. (1997). "ETBE synthesis via reactive distillation--1. Steady-stage simulation and design aspects," Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 36, 1855-1869.
9. Sneesby, M. G., Tade, M. O., and Smith, T. N. (1999). "Two-point control of a reactive distillation column for composition and conversion," J. of Process Contr., 9, 19-31.
10. Tade, M. O., and Tian, Y. C. (2000). "Conversion inference for ETBE reactive distillation," Sep. Puri. Tech., 19, 85-91.
11. Yang, B., and Goto, S. (1997). “Pervaporation with reactive distillation for the production of ethyl tert-butyl ether," Sep. Sci. Tech., 32, 971-981.
12. Yang, B., Yang, S., and Yao, R. (2000). "Synthesis of ethyl tert-butyl ether from tert-butyl alcohol and ethanol on strong acid cation-exchange resins," React, Funct, Polym., 44, 167–175.
13. Yin, X., Yang, B., and Goto, S. (1995). "Kinetics of liquid-phase synthesis of ethyl tert butyl ether from tert-butyl alcohol and ethanol catalyzed by ion-exchange resin and heteropoly acid," Int. J. Chem. Kinetics, 27, 1065-1074.
Published
2005-12-31
How to Cite
Assabumrungrat, S., Pavarajarn, V., Wongwattanasate, D., & Praserthdam, P. (2005). Simulation of Ethyl Tert-Butyl Ether Production from Tert-Butyl Alcohol and Ethanol in Reactive Distillation. ASEAN Journal of Chemical Engineering, 5(1), 16-21. Retrieved from https://jurnal.ugm.ac.id/v3/AJChE/article/view/7629
Section
Articles