Octane boosters production

The major use of methyl chloride is to produce silicon polymers. Other uses include the synthesis of tetramethyl lead as a gasoline octane booster, a methylating agent in methyl cellulose production, a solvent, and a refrigerant. 

About 95% of the MTBE is used as an octane booster/oxygenate in gasoline, as of this writing. The rest is used is used as a solvent and as feedstock in the production of methacrolein and methacrylic acid. 

Uses Solvent for nitrocellulose, ethyl cellulose, polyvinyl butyral, rosin, shellac, manila resin, dyes fuel for utility plants home heating oil extender preparation of methyl esters, formaldehyde, methacrylates, methylamines, dimethyl terephthalate, polyformaldehydes methyl halides, ethylene glycol in gasoline and diesel oil antifreezes octane booster in gasoline source of hydrocarbon for fuel cells extractant for animal and vegetable oils denaturant for ethanol in formaldehyde solutions to inhibit polymerization softening agent for certain plastics dehydrator for natural gas intermediate in production of methyl terLbutyl ether. 

Despite the current decrease of oil prices, the conversion of syngas to alcohols remains an attractive objective. Many companies are involved in alcohols synthesis projects, based on high pressure or low pressure technologies, with motor-fuels and octane boosters as targets. The I.F.P. (France Idemitsu (Japan) R D program is focused on the co-produc-tion of methanol and light alcohols. These product... 

Another near future objective is to ensure development of technology that enables production of motor-fuel substitutes fhom non petroleum sources. The production of methanol-higher alcohols mixtures fhom natural gas,via syngas, remains a priority objective to obtain octane boosters capable of replacing lead alkyls and to allow the use of additional low-priced methanol. 

Ethanol production at 500 v 106 gallon/year for use as octane booster. 

Ethyl chloride rose to commercial importance because of the automotive industry. It was the starting material for tetraethyllead, at one time the most commonly used octane booster. Demand has been cut drastically because of the conversion from leaded to unleaded gasoline for environmental reasons. Other uses for ethyl chloride are in the production of ethyl cellulose, as an ethylating agent, as a blowing agent, and in solvent extraction. 

Isobutene is used for tbe production of MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) which nowadays is used little in the US market but is widely used as a gasoline octane booster in many countries. 

The figure illustrates that benzene generally sells at a premium to toluene and xylene reflecting its use as a chemical intermediate in the production of styrene, phenol and nylon. The floor value for toluene and xylene is set by the prevailing gasoline price where they are used as nonoxygenate octane boosters (i.e. alternatives to ethanol or MTBE). Mixed xylene also finds use to produce the important chemical intermediates para-xylene (for the production of polyester, PTA), art/io-xylene (for the production of phthalates) and ethylbenzene (considered as a xylene and used for the production of styrene ). These uses for xylene result in a slight premium over toluene which has no major chemical uses other than for the production of benzene and xylene. 

The most likely role of homogeneous catalyst systems of the type discussed in this paper would be in the production of higher value commodity or speciality chemicals or in the production of octane boosters for lead free petrol as practised by I.F.P. 

Although the safety debates that led to acceptance of the octane booster and the new refrigerant took different courses, the outcomes of the two stories have a common element. DuPont emerged at the end of each with a proprietary product that dominated the market and yielded handsome profits. 

At present, glycerol alkyl ethers, especially GTBEs, are of particular interest, because the higher ethers (h-GTBEs) can be used as octane boosters in automotive fuels analogously to methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), but they do not exhibit the same environmental problems. Glycerol can be converted with isobutene [47-49] or with tert-butanol [50] to the desired fuel additives (Scheme 3.6). When using on tert-butanol, water is a by-product and must be removed. 

Products and Uses Varied uses include synthetic odorant in shampoos, solvent for polishes, and octane booster in gasoline. Also added to beverages, ice desserts, creams, candy, and baked goods. Frequently utilized in the production of fruit, liquor, butter flavorings, confectioneries, tablet form food supplements, and gum. Also used as color diluent and flavoring agent. 

Products and Uses An octane booster in unleaded gasoline (EPA approved). Used in perfumery and as a paint remover, solvent, gasoline additive, and odorant. 

Tertiary-butyl alcohol is commonly used as a co-solvent in gasoline/ methanol blends and as an oxygenate and octane booster by itself. It is predominantly produced from isobutene, but may also be a product of fermentation reactions [15], It is biodegradable in the environment, and is infinitely soluble in water. 

Catalytic Distillation Catalytic or reactive distillation is another example of the use of a hybrid reactor and combines catalysis and distillation in one column/reactor. Usually, we have a two-phase process with gas and liquid flowing in countercurrent mode. This requires special catalysts and packings, for example, monoliths, as in case of a fixed-bed flooding of the reactor would occur at high flow rates. In industry, catalytic distillation is already used for the production of MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether), an important octane booster (Figure 4.10.77 DeGarmo, Parulekar, and Pinjala, 1992), cumene (DeGarmo, Parulekar, and Pinjala, 1992), and ethylbenzene (Podrebarac, Ng, and Rempel, 1997). 

Diverse alkylated products are in strong demand as octane boosters, precursors for other petrochemical and bulk chemical products. Besides conventional zeolites traditionally used in alkylation processes (Y, Beta), quite a few novel structures have been proposed. 

Like propane, n-hutane is mainly obtained from natural gas liquids. It is also a hy-product from different refinery operations. Currently, the major use of n-hutane is to control the vapor pressure of product gasoline. Due to new regulations restricting the vapor pressure of gasolines, this use is expected to he substantially reduced. Surplus n-butane could be isomerized to isobutane, which is currently in high demand for producing isobutene. Isobutene is a precursor for methyl and ethyl tertiary butyl ethers, which are important octane number boosters. Another alternative outlet for surplus n-butane is its oxidation to maleic anhydride. Almost all new maleic anhydride processes are based on butane oxidation. 

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