Ethyl MTBE catalysts

Ethyl-ter-butyl ether (ETBE) is also produced by the reaction of ethanol and isobutylene under similar conditions with a heterogeneous acidic ion-exchange resin catalyst (similar to that with MTBE) ... 

The introduction of lead-free gasoline brought about a new technical process on a large scale reactive distillation (RD). Although the principle of this process had been known for many years [1], the need to produce huge quantities of ethers as antiknock enhancers caused rapid development of this technique more than 14 X 10 tonnes/year of ethers are produced. The catalysts for the production of methyl-t-butylether (MTBE), t-amylmethylether (TAME), or ethyl- butylether (ETBE), which are the main products for the fuel market, are acidic ion-exchange resins. The most important type is based on cross-linked polystyrene that is sulfo-nated to create the active acid sites. These resins are produced as beads of less than 3 mm in a suspension polymerization process. 

Membrane catalysts use a polymeric support. Polymer composites based on PPE as polymeric support with HPAs are used as a catalysts. The HPA-polymer composites are prepared by blending HEA with the polymer in a methanol/chloroform solvent mixture. These composites are active in the synthesis of tert-butyl alcohol, ethyl tert-butyl ether and in some reactions involving ethanol and MTBE. A PPE-based membrane reactor showed the best performance, among some other polymer membranes tested. 

In Germany, however, bioethanol will mainly be used as low blend of bioethanol and petrol (E5, ElO) and for the production of ETBE (ethyl-tertiary-butyl-ether). Similar to methyl-tertiary-butyl-ether (MTBE), ETBE is used to enhance the octane index and improve knock-resistance and combustion properties of gasoline." It is less challenging to handle, does not induce evaporation of gasoline and does not absorb moisture like ethanol does. ETBE is produced by reacting ethanol and isobutylene via acid catalyst ... 

Example ethyl acetate [ex ethanol, acetic acid] methylal [ex formaldehyde and methanol] methyl acetate [ex methanol, acetic acid] with sulfuric acid as catalyst methyl-tert-butyl ether, MTBE [ex methanol, isobutene] IX resin catalyst. Extractive fermentation ... 

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