How are Fuel Ethers made?
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Fuel ethers can be produced from both petrochemical and agricultural feedstocks.
- The building blocks for fuel ethers are isobutylene or isoamylenes combined with methanol or ethanol.
- Ethanol, derived by a fermenting process from wheat, sugar beet and other agricultural products, is the feedstock for the production of ETBE or TAEE.
- Methanol, derived primarily from natural gas or from biomass, is one feedstock used in the production of MTBE or TAME.
- Isobutylene, which is the other feedstock used in both MTBE and ETBE production, is also derived from natural gas, or as a by-product of petroleum refining.
- Likewise isoamylenes used to produce TAME or TAEE are by-products of petroleum refining.
The below picture summarises the production process of fuel ethers.
Production facilities are typically located near feedstock supplies. These may either be in a refinery with a fluid catalytic cracker unit, or in a chemical plant with a steam cracker. There are also large-scale "stand alone” units based on butane isomerisation/dehydrogenation technology, where both the butane and the methanol are derived from gas sources of low alternative value, or dehydration of tertiary butyl alcohol.