Separation of close boiling alcohols through selective etherification with isobutylene: use of ion exchange resins as catalyst

A novel way for the separation of mixtures of close boiling primary + secondary and secondary + tertiary alcohols through selective etherification with isobutylene in the presence of acidic ion exchange resins as catalysts is proposed. Mixtures of ethanol + isopropanol and isopropanol + tert-butanol were used as model components. The Langmuir-Hinshelwood model was used for studying the kinetics of these reactions