Etherification of tert-amyl alcohol with methanol over ion-exchange resin

Abstract

tert-Amyl methyl ether (TAME) is a proven high octane additive. The synthesis of tert-amyl methyl ether from tert-amyl alcohol and methanol has been carried out in the presence of a variety of solid acid catalysts. Amberlyst-36 was found to be very effective in comparison with other solid acids. A complete theoretical and experimental analysis is presented for the model studies of tert-amyl alcohol with methanol. The parallel reactions of tert-amyl alcohol adsorbed on the sites were found to control the overall rate of reaction, which led to the formation of TAME, 2-methyl-1-butene (2MB1), and 2-methyl-2-butene (2MB2). The reaction follows pseudo-first-order kinetics at a fixed catalyst loading. The individual rate constants for the formation of TAME, 2MB1, and 2MB2 were also evaluated from the same data.