Study On The Preparation Of Alcohol And Ether Fuel By Hydrous Ethanol

A new process for the preparation of alcohol and ether fuel is proposed, based on hydrous ethanol and isobutylene as reactants. Ethyl tertiary butyl ether (ETBE) synthesis process, multiple vapor-liquid equilibrium, multiple distillation and simulation are specifically studied. The influence of catalyst type and repeated utilization, catalyst dosage, the ratio of raw materials, reaction temperature, stirring speed and reaction time on the reaction results in a batch mode is investigated and better technology conditions are obtained. Through orthogonal experiment, the better conditions are confirmed as follows:with A-15 as catalyst, the raw materials molar ratio n(ethanol):n(isobutylene)=3.0:1, reaction temperature 80℃, the reaction time 150min, the amount of catalyst 9wt%. The conversion of isobutylene and the yield of ethyl tertiary butyl ether reach 90.5% and 77.2% respectively, the relative conversion of water is 80.4%. The multiple vapor-liquid equilibrium is discussed to determine UNIQUAC equation as physical methods for the subsequent column. The reaction products are separated by debutanizer and distillation experiment. The ether mixture of high ether content and easy extraction is got at the top of the column and the monoalcohol dehydration products which water content less than 1wt% is got at the bottom. With the simulation and optimization of the distillation column by the Aspen Plus chemical process simulation software, the simulation results are very close with experimental results.