SBIR Phase I: Effective Revamping of Idle MTBE Units

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This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project proposes a new process to revamp idled catalytic distillation-based MTBE plants to make alkylate (a clean, high-octane gasoline additive) from field butanes. Phase I of this SBIR project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of the new process chemistry in terms of the achievable reaction rates and catalyst stability in bench-scale reactors. The reduction in energy consumption will also be determined. Finally, a preliminary economic evaluation will be performed to determine if the proposed process can be implemented in a cost-effective way. Converting idled CD-MTBE plants to produce alkylate increases US domestic refining capacity at a minimal cost. The alkylate produced is clean and non-toxic, without the water contamination concerns of MTBE or other oxygenates. Alkylate can also help replace the octane lost by the removal of MTBE from the gasoline pool. The process should also yield significant energy savings compared to MTBE production.