Production of MTBE

日期 : Jan 2022 - May 2022

<div><p>Its our Final year project about the <strong>Production of Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether</strong></p> <p>The importance of quality fuel for meeting the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) Fuel Specification needs no explanation. Due to the increase in the number of vehicles, environmental problems have become of immense concern for the whole world. Ministry of Petroleum Pakistan imposed specifications for gasoline oil to meet the environmental regulations. Developed countries had introduced different types of additives and processes to ensure gasoline octane rating is up to the mark. So, there is a great need to produce such fuel additives, which give great engine performance and produces less pollution.In this report, a plant having a capacity of 1000 tons/day has been designed to produce MTBE (Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether) by reacting isobutene with methanol in the presence of a heterogeneous catalyst. In the reactor, an exothermic reaction takes place in the presence of an ion exchange catalyst (Mineral acid). The completion of reaction and separation of MTBE takes place in a reactive distillation column. Unreacted methanol is absorbed in water and separated from water by distillation. Recovered methanol is recycled back and mixed with fresh feed.Material and Energy balance calculations are carried out both manually and using Chem CAD v7.0 and the designing of equipment with control loops is done along with cost estimation. For safety, maintenance, and product optimization, the necessary process control loops are introduced on the major equipment.One limitation of this process is catalyst exhaust after a certain period. It is highly water-soluble and carcinogenic. Therefore, it requires special precautions for its storage to avoid its leakage into groundwater.</p> </div>