Methyl tert-butyl ether

I’m not quite sure what you want to ask Could you give a brief description of the process?

The material that has passed through the reactor enters C501B at the lower part of the reactive distillation tower; to facilitate further reaction of the remaining isobutylene, a catalyst is added in C501A at the upper part of the reactive distillation tower. Some time ago, C501A was emptied for maintenance and had no material inside; after it was put back into operation, reaction occurred at the feed point of the reactive distillation tower. There was almost no MTBE at the bottom of C501A, so no reaction took place, but once some MTBE was added, a reaction did occur.

Do you mean the reactor isn’t responding?

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It’s not a reactor; there is no reaction inside the catalytic distillation column

The results of my analysis are for reference only: The reaction that takes place in the upper part of the catalytic distillation tower is a reaction between the isobutylene remaining in the liquefied gas after reaction in the reactor (about 1-2%) and methanol, facilitated by catalysts located in the upper section of the distillation tower. At the start of operation, there is no material present; methanol, MTBE, and butanes enter the distillation tower together. They first accumulate at the bottom of the tower where the temperature rises, and as liquid phases such as methanol and MTBE gradually accumulate, methanol and butanes form an azeotrope that is carried upward to the upper part of the tower where the reaction occurs. Therefore, at the beginning, methanol may not be able to reach the upper sections of the tower, and as a result, no reaction might take place. Additionally, at the start of operation, MTBE might cause gas-liquid mixing in the middle section of the tower, leading to cracking reactions that produce isobutylene; this could also be another reason.