Influence of shaped and modified Hβ zeolite on etherification of FCC light gasoline

Oxygenated compounds such as ethers produced by the reaction of methanol and tert-olefins have good potential for use as performance and environmental enhancing additives for transportation fuels. Catalytic etherification of tert-olefins with methanol has been carried out over a series of solid-acid catalysts such as Hβ (Si/Al = 25), HM OR(Si/Al = 50), HZSM-5 (Si/Al = 50) and strong acidic cation exchange resin D005 using a flow fix-bed reactor. Hβ zeolite shows higher conversion and catalytic stability than other catalysts for the production of tert-amyl methyl ether (TAME). In the shaping process, the catalytic activity of extruding zeolite Hβ before impregnating two oxides on it is higher than the reverse order. The best extruding condition is that pore-enlarging agent is PEG-4000 (10%), the dosage of binder (α-AlOOH) is 20% and the dosage of peptizer (HNO3) is 10%. The regeneration of Hβ zeolite is much better than other catalysts. At the optimal reaction condition 70 °C, 1 h−1, 0.8 MPa and a 1.05:1 molar ratio of methanol to tert-olefins, the highest conversion of tert-olefins could reach 62.93%, the yield of TAME is high too and the technology can be applied to commercial industry well.