Kinetics of the heterogeneously catalyzed formation of tert-amyl ethyl ether

In this work, the kinetics and equilibrium of the heterogeneously catalyzed liquid-phase formation of tert-amyl ethyl ether (TAEE) were studied. The catalyst used was a commercial sulfonic acid ion-exchange resin (Amberlyst 16W). The experiments were carried out in a continuous stirred-tank reactor, measuring stationary reaction rates. The measured reaction rates were fitted to three kinetic models; homogeneous, Eley-Rideal type, and Langmuir-Hinshelwood type. Of these, the Langmuir-Hinshelwood type model described the experimental results best. This model is based on single-site adsorption of every component, with the surface reaction being the rate-limiting step. The activation energies for the formation of tert-amyl ethyl ether from 2-methyl-1-butene were 90 and from 2-methy-2-2-butene 108 kJ . mol(-1). For the isomerization of 2-methyl-1-butene to 2-methyl-2-butene, an activation energy of 82 kJ . mol(-1) was obtained.