Alternative catalysts for MTBE production

Abstract

MTBE synthesis has been studied over catalysts having different acidities: zeolites, fluorine-promoted SiO2-A1203 and sulfur-promoted ZrO2. Some catalysts perform similarly to acidic resins and a clear relationship between acidity and activity is not apparent.

Alternative fuel additives from glycerol by etherification with isobutene: Structure–performance relationships in solid catalysts

“…One of the major uses of IB is the production of octane booster fuel oxygenate, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), synthesized by reacting the C4 olefin mixture with methanol under mild acidic conditions, wherein solely IB is reactive while the other components in the C4 mixture act as inert. Established commercial MTBE production employs sulfonic ion exchange resins, such as Amberlyst 15 and Amberlyst 35 in liquid phase under moderate temperature (30-100°C) and pressure (20 bar) conditions, while other catalysts such as zeolites and heteropolyacids have also been proposed for the process [72][73][74]. MTBE is now regarded as an environmentally unfriendly chemical because of contaminating the groundwater reservoirs by its high water miscibility.…”

Conversion of Isobutylene to Octane-Booster Compounds after Methyl tert-Butyl Ether Phaseout: The Role of Heterogeneous Catalysis

“…15 MTBE is commercially produced using a variety of catalysts such as Lewatit K-2631, 7 CVT resin, Amberlyst 15 (A-15), 16,17 Bowex 50w, Lewatit SPC 118, 11,18 montmorillonites 19 and heteropolyacid (Dawson acid) 20 based catalysts, clays treated using Al 3+ , Fe 3+ , Cr 3+ , Cu 2+ , Pb 2+ , Ni 2+ , Co 2+ , Ca 2+ , and Na + cations, 5 fluorine-promoted SiO 2 −Al 2 O 3 catalyst, 21 and sulfur promoted ZrO 2 catalyst. 21 Development of MTBE production was also carried out using zeolites such as Y, ZSM-5, mordenite, NaA, and ZSM-11 22−25 to replace ion exchange resins as alternative catalysts because of their superior performance 11 and highly selective catalysts even at low isobutylene/methanol ratio. 22 The ZSM-5 and ZSM-11 are better than A-15 resin because of better thermal stability, higher selectivity, and low sensitivity to the methanol/isobutylene molar ratio.…”

“…MTBE is commercially produced using a variety of catalysts such as Lewatit K-2631, CVT resin, Amberlyst 15 (A-15), , Bowex 50w, Lewatit SPC 118, , montmorillonites and heteropolyacid (Dawson acid) based catalysts, clays treated using Al 3+ , Fe 3+ , Cr 3+ , Cu 2+ , Pb 2+ , Ni 2+ , Co 2+ , Ca 2+ , and Na + cations, fluorine-promoted SiO 2 –Al 2 O 3 catalyst, and sulfur promoted ZrO 2 catalyst …”

Si-MCM41 Supported Sulfated Zirconia and Nafion for Ether Production

“…Several other acid solids such as zeolites, sulfated zirconia, heteropolyoxoanions (HPA), and supported HPA catalysts have been also tested for the production of MTBE. [4][5][6][7] Nafion resin, a perfluorosulfonic acid resin, which is a copolymer of tetrafluoroethene and a per-fluorosulfonyl ether derivative with a backbone similar to Teflon, is a superacid solid. This material has been studied in various acid-catalyzed reactions.…”