Nonlinear dynamic effects in reactive distillation for synthesis of TAME

The liquid phase synthesis of octane-enhancing ethers like methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) or tert-amyl methyl ether (TAME) can be advantageously performed in a reactive distillation (RD) processes with ion-exchange resin catalyst. In the present paper, a case study for dynamic simulation of a RD process for the production of TAME is presented. Nonlinear dynamic effects such as oscillations, multiple steady states, and internal state multiplicity have been observed under certain conditions. Feed condition and Damkohler number are the important parameters that have influence on the existence of these effects. The presence of these effects has been confirmed through independent bifurcation analysis. The influence of various modeling parameters, reaction kinetics, and phase equilibrium models on this observation is studied