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The pace of banning MTBE in the United States has accelerated. As an octane improver in gasoline, MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether) can not only increase the oxygen content of gasoline, but also promote clean combustion and reduce harmful emissions from automobiles. However, MTBE is easily soluble in water. MTBE is increasingly found in underground drinking water bodies in the United States due to leaks from underground and above-ground gasoline storage tanks. Even at very low concentrations, MTBE can cause foul odor in water, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has classified MTBE as a possible carcinogen. However, as of 2006, the global annual production capacity of MTBE still reached about 21 million tons. With the growing call for banning MTBE in the United States, the survival of MTBE devices will be severely tested. The pace of banning MTBE in the United States is accelerating. In view of the pollution caused by MTBE to water quality, California has banned MTBE since 2004, and Arizona, Connecticut and New York have also banned MTBE since 2005. Since 2006, the ban on MTBE in gasoline in the United States has further accelerated. As of April 2007, 26 states in the United States have banned MTBE. Analysts pointed out that in 2008, the United States may completely ban MTBE. With the spread of the ban, the consumption of MTBE in the United States has decreased from slightly more than 12.88 million tons in 2004 to the current 7.29 million tons/a. Since 2006, the production of MTBE in the United States has continued to decline, and several important manufacturers have stopped the production of MTBE. Among the large manufacturers, only Huntsman is still producing. In addition, there are some small manufacturers who continue to produce MTBE to meet export needs. Europe * * Spain, France, Germany and Italy have similar trends. The stimulation of renewable fuels has promoted Europe to accelerate the conversion of MTBE units to produce ETBE (ethyl tert-butyl ether). Experts predict that European ETBE production will increase from 2 million tons in 2006 to more than 5 million tons in 2008. There are many alternative ways to MTBE. In addition to increasing the production of ethanol to replace MTBE, developed * * Other alternatives, such as increased alkylate production, have also been developed. Alkylates have become an important alternative to MTBE due to their high octane number and the absence of aromatics, sulfur or olefins. UOP has developed an indirect alkylation process called InALK. This process does not use isobutane, but alkylates isobutene itself or with other C3~C5 olefins under the action of a catalyst. The resulting alkylate has a road octane number of 98~99, which is higher than ordinary alkylate. IFP has launched a “virtual alkylation” process. This process uses isobutylene-rich C4 components as raw materials, dimerizes isobutylene to produce gasoline with branched olefins, and then hydrogenates it to produce isooctane-rich gasoline. In addition, ExxonMobil Research and Engineering has launched an olefin-to-gasoline process that can polymerize light olefins such as propylene and butene into high-octane gasoline components, which is suitable for refineries with propylene resources but no alkylation units. ExxonMobil has also developed a process for converting propylene and water to produce diisopropyl ether (DIPE). DIPE has excellent gasoline blending properties, especially excellent motor octane number characteristics. Compared with MTBE, its performance is not inferior. As a competitive ether oxygenate, its role is increasing day by day. The surplus MTBE equipment can be converted to produce isooctane or ETBE in the future. When converting to isooctane production, the original device can use the same raw material used to synthesize MTBE, isobutylene, to be dimerized to produce isooctene, and isooctene can then be hydrogenated to produce isooctane. Iso-octane is an excellent gasoline blending component and has a motor octane rating of 100. This isobutylene conversion technology can be used to retrofit MTBE plants. Companies that own this technology include Axens North America, CDTech, Leondell, KBR and UOP. In short, there are many successful methods to replace MTBE. The promotion of alcohol-containing gasoline is the general trend, and the development of bioethanol is the most direct and practical solution to replace MTBE. Currently developed * * The development of cellulosic ethanol technology is being accelerated, and medium-sized and verification cellulosic ethanol devices are being constructed and put into operation. It is expected that in the near future, cellulosic ethanol will achieve technological and cost breakthroughs and become the main substitute for MTBE and an important component of gasoline. Applications in Asia will also increase, but in Asia, MTBE still has great potential for development, especially in China and India. China's current MTBE production capacity is 1.2 million t/a, nearly doubled from 612,000 t in 2003. This is mainly due to the rapid growth of gasoline demand in China. many asian * * It will also implement the Kyoto Protocol, which requires member states to * * Reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In the short term, the application of MTBE in Asia is likely to increase as ethanol and other renewable fuel action plans have not yet been fully implemented in Asia. This post was last edited by butyl on 2009-2-10 12:14 ]