Synthesis of gasoline additives ethyl tert-butyl (ETBE) and investigation of rection kinetics

The aim of this study was to produce ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE); an additive employed in envorimentally benign gasoline formulation in order to decrease harmful effects caused by gasoline used in vehicles. Synthesis of ETBE was carried out in a tubular reactor in 14.7 psia pressure and 353-368K temperature interval in the presence of an ionexchange resin; Amberlyst 15. Effect of temperature and inlet iso-olefin concentration on product conversion was investigated in the first step. The product conversion was decreased with an increase in temperature, where an increase in product conversion was observed with increasing initial iso-olefin concentrations. Second stage of the work included the determination of ion-exchange capacity of Amberlyst 15 by potantiometric titration method, a value of 5.18 was calculated prior to results and the value found to be in agreement with literature. In the final stage of the work, a modified Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism obtained from literature to investigate the competibility with experimental results. Mechanism calculations indicated that proposed mechanism had been in agreement with experimental results. Key Words : ETBE, Etherification, Amberlit-15, Ethanol, Isobutene