This process which uses reactive distillation technology is developed by combined expertise of Huls AG and UOP. The feed consists of MeOH or EtOH and hydrocarbon streams con­taining reactive tertiary olefins such as isoamylene and IB. Reaction takes place over an acid­ic ion exchange resin at mild temperature and moderate pressure.

In the MTBE case, feed first passes through an optional water wash system to remove the resin contaminants. The majority of the reaction is carried out in a simple fixed-bed reactor. The reactor effluent feeds the reactive distillation column containing a proprietary packing where simultaneous reaction of the remaining IB and distillation occur.

Overhead from the reactive distillation column is routed to MeOH recovery, a simple coun­tercurrent extraction column using H2O, and a MeOH-H2O distillation column. The recov­ered MeOH is recycled to the reactor section. Hydrocarbon raffinate is typically sent to a downstream alkylation or oligomerization unit.