SBIR Phase I: Effective Revamping of Idle MTBE Units

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目提出了一个新工艺，改造闲置的基于催化蒸馏的MTBE工厂，从现场丁烷中生产烷基酸（一种清洁的高辛烷值汽油添加剂）。该SBIR项目的第一阶段旨在从可实现的反应速率和催化剂稳定性方面证明新工艺化学的可行性。能源消耗的减少也将被确定。最后，将进行初步的经济评价，以确定所提议的过程是否能够以具有成本效益的方式实施。将闲置的CD-MTBE装置转化为烷基酸，以最低的成本增加了美国国内的炼油能力。所生产的烷基酸盐清洁无毒，没有MTBE或其他含氧化合物的水污染问题。烷基酸盐也可以帮助取代因从汽油池中去除MTBE而损失的辛烷值。与MTBE生产相比，该工艺还应节省大量能源。

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.