Granted Patent B2

US 8,067,655 · App. 12/156,004 · Granted Nov 29, 2011

Abstract

Claims (11)

1. A process for producing diisobutylene comprising:

(a) contacting a sulfonic acid resin with a reaction feed comprising 25 to 50 weight percent isobutylene, 3 to 8 weight percent tertiary butyl alcohol, 30 to 60 weight percent diisobutylene, and 10 to 80 weight percent isooctane to produce a product stream comprising diisobutylene, isobutylene, tertiary butyl alcohol, and water;

(b) distilling the product stream to produce a first overhead stream comprising water and isobutylene and a first bottoms stream comprising diisobutylene and tertiary butyl alcohol;

(c) separating water from the first overhead stream to produce an isobutylene-enriched stream and recycling the isobutylene-enriched stream to step (a); and

(d) distilling the first bottoms stream to produce a bottoms product stream comprising diisobutylene and a second overhead stream comprising tertiary butyl alcohol and diisobutylene.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein the isobutylene is produced by the dehydration of tertiary butyl alcohol.

3. The process of claim 1 wherein the water is separated from the first overhead stream by decantation.

4. The process of claim 1 wherein at least 30 percent of the water from the first overhead stream is separated to produce the isobutylene-enriched stream.

5. The process of claim 1 wherein at least 50 percent of the water from the first overhead stream is separated to produce the isobutylene-enriched stream.

6. The process of claim 1 , further comprising recycling the second overhead stream back to step (a).

7. The process of claim 1 , further comprising hydrogenating the bottoms product stream to form isooctane.

Assignments (14)