Multiple Product Solutions of tert-Butyl Alcohol Dehydration in Reactive Distillation

The feasibility of tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) dehydration to selectively produce the high purity products isobutene or diisobutene by using reactive distillation has been illustrated through process simulations. Correspondingly, different column configurations are proposed. The influence of the important operating parameters on the column performance is analyzed by continuation methods, and the operating windows of the parameters are suggested. Advantages of employing reactive distillation for TBA dehydration include the mild conditions required, high TBA conversion per pass, and high selectivity of the desired products. Moreover, the excellent coupling of TBA hydration and isobutene dimerization in one column leads this system to be a good example for studying the complex behaviors of reactive distillation integrating multiple chemical reactions.