Etherification rates of 2-methyl-2-butene and 2-methyl-1-butene with ethanol for environmentally clean gasoline production

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Etherification of C5 reactive olefins available in light fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) gasoline is an attractive way to decrease the olefins and to increase the octane number. The reactivities of 2-methyl-1-butene (2M1B) and 2-methyl-2-butene (2M2B) in the etherification reaction with ethanol catalysed by a strongly acidic macroreticular resin catalyst were investigated in a temperature range of 333–360 K using a liquid phase differential flow reactor. In the presence of excess alcohol, the apparent reaction orders of etherification reactions of isoamylenes were found to be 0.93 and 0.69 with respect to 2M1B and 2M2B concentrations, respectively. 2M1B was shown to be more reactive than 2M2B and its activation energy is also lower in the etherification reaction. It was also shown that diffusion resistances, especially in the macropores of the catalyst, may play an important role on the observed rates.