The MTBE conversion process to isooctane passed the qualification

Recently, the process research and development project of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) to isooctane converted by Huanqiu East China Company passed the appraisal
of scientific and technological achievements organized by the Science and Technology Management Department of China National Petroleum Corporation.
The appraisal committee unanimously agreed that the overall results of the project have reached the domestic leading level, among which the cascade reaction system that can avoid diisobutylene backmixing and the isobutylene selective stacking technology with high coupling of catalytic distillation have reached the international advanced level
.

According to Nie Cheng, assistant general manager and director of the technical management department of Huanqiu East China Company, the research team has overcome technical problems such as easy remixing of diisobutylene, severe reaction temperature rise, easy inactivation of catalysts, and high cost of hydrogenation process, and developed isobutylene selective stacking technology and isobutylene stacked oil catalytic distillation hydrogenation technology
.

Isobutylene selective stacking technology adopts high-efficiency isobutylene stacking resin catalyst to control the reaction temperature rise through circulating inhibitors, eliminating related equipment such as external circulation pumps, external circulation coolers and inhibitor recovery towers, which has better adaptability to raw materials than foreign technologies and greatly simplifies the process flow
.
Isobutylene stacked oil catalytic distillation hydrogenation technology completes the separation and hydrogenation processes simultaneously in the catalytic distillation hydrogenation tower, simplifying the process flow while directly using the heat of isobutylene superposition reaction for the separation process, which improves the energy utilization rate
.
At present, 2 sets of industrial devices have been applied to related technologies, and the economic benefits are remarkable
.

The appraisal committee suggested that the research team conduct further research on high-purity diisobutylene in the chemical industry, and strengthen the publicity and promotion
of MTBE conversion to isooctane.