MTBE series: What is the impact of water on the etherification reaction?
Thread Content
What is the harm of water to the etherification reaction?
If water is present, it reacts first with isobutylene to form tert-butanol, thereby preventing the reaction between methanol and isobutylene. Would you like that? Unless you want to produce tert-butanol.
Answer: ① Under the action of a catalyst, water reacts with isobutylene to produce tert-butanol; this reaction occurs more rapidly than the synthesis of MTBE, resulting in a large amount of tert-butanol in the product. ②Water is immiscible with C4; when the catalyst bed absorbs a large amount of water, it increases the pressure drop as C4 passes through the bed, which can sometimes exceed 1 MPa and even lead to destructive failures in the reactor. ③Since water occupies the active sites of the catalyst, the MTBE conversion rate does not reach the desired level. Therefore, water is highly harmful to the etherification reaction and must be controlled.
It is necessary to keep the moisture content in the raw material supplied from the upstream butadiene extraction unit at a low level; in addition, efforts should be made to improve the water removal process in the carbon tetrafluoride separation tanks within this unit.