| abstract |
Methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) is sequentially prepared from t-butanol and methanol by: n passing t-butanol and methanol through a primary reaction zone to form a primary etherification reaction product comprising unreacted methanol, unreacted t-butanol, water, dimethyl ether, isobutylene and MTBE; n separating the primary etherification reaction product into a methanol recycle fraction, a t-butanol recycle fraction, an isobutylene fraction and a MTBE product fraction; n recycling the methanol recycle fraction and the t-butanol recycle fraction to the MTBE reaction zone; n passing at least a portion of said isobutylene fraction together with added methanol through secondary reaction zone to form a secondary etherification reaction product comprising water, methanol, isobutylene, dimethyl ether, MTBE and t-butanol; and n recovering the MTBE from said secondary etherification reaction product. |