MTBE yield
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Our MTBE plant uses mixed-bed reactors, with 2 reactors in total. The feed consists of isobutylene and methanol from the C4 fraction; prior to reaction, the isobutylene content is around 20%, the alcohol-to-isobutylene ratio is maintained at 1.2, the pressure is about 7 kilograms, the bed temperature is around 70 degrees, and the purity of the product is kept above 95%. Recently, the boss has been complaining that our MTBE yield is too low, which means we use too little methanol (since methanol is currently cheap while liquefied gas is relatively more expensive). The manager has asked us to use more methanol, and the purity of the product does not need to be very high. Please share your opinions
The yield of MTBE product is related to the composition of the raw materials; therefore, the MTBE conversion rate of the unit should be calculated as a performance indicator.
Large amounts of methanol are used, resulting in a decrease in MTBE purity, as well as high usage for gasoline blending； If the cost per ton of methanol is lower than that of gasoline, it is reasonable for the plant to use MTBE internally, as long as product quality can be maintained ； It would be wrong if the quality of blended oils cannot be guaranteed. This post was last edited by chengkang on 2009-4-5 06:40]
Hehe, the factory management decided to allow more use of methanol because the MTBE produced there is used to blend gasoline
In my personal opinion, increasing the amount of methanol is meant to shift the equilibrium to the right by raising the concentration of the reactants; in essence, this increases the alcohol-to-olefin ratio. However, this is related to the design requirements of the reactor and the catalytic distillation column that follows. In practice, blindly increasing the amount of methanol not only makes it difficult to maintain proper operation but also results in MTBE of substandard quality coming out of the distillation column, with excessive levels of methanol and C4. This not only leads to the waste of unreacted C4 (which can still be used as LPG) but also reduces the MTBE content, making it a loss rather than a gain!
Take a look at this; it might be helpful to you. http://bbs.hcbbs.com/viewthread.php?tid=195015