C₄ Design Capacity

The plant is designed to process 170,000 lb/hr of C₄ feed stock and produce 3,600 BPSD of MTBE product having the characteristics stated in the Final Product Specification.  Turndown for the unit is 50% relative to start-of-run conditions.

Final Product Specifications:

MTBE Product
   When the unit receives C₄ hydrocarbon and methanol feed at the design rates, the expected MTBE product rate is 3,512 BPSD with the following typical composition for start-of-run conditions

• Plant produces methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) from isobutene and methanol
  
• Plant will process approx. 20,000 BPSD of a C₄ hydrocarbon stream to produce 3,500 BPSD of MTBE
  
• Plant contains a separate unit to produce TAME from iso-amylene and methanol.

The process unit contains the following sections:

• Methanol Feed System
• Water Wash Column
• Primary Reactor
• CD Reactor Column
• Methanol Extraction Column
• Methanol Recovery Column

The methanol feed and methanol recovery column are common to both the MTBE and TAME units

The MTBE Unit functions to produce MTBE product for blending into gasoline for octane enhancement as well as increasing the oxygen content as required by the United States Clean Air Act.

This unit may be subdivided into the following sections:

• Feed Pretreatment
• Primary Reaction
• Catalytic Distillation
• Methanol Extraction and Recovery

Please click on the link below to view a more detailed process description.