Published December 1979
This study considers the economics of producing 10,000 bbl/day (432,000 metric tons/yr) of MTBE from n-butane by the following sequence of processes: isomerization of n-butane to isobutane; dehydrogenation of isobutane to isobutylene; and synthesis of MTBE from the isobutylene and methanol. The costs are compared with other smaller-scale MTBE cases, studied in previous PEP reports, in which steam cracked or catalytically cracked C4 fractions were used as feedstocks. Economics of all cases have been updated to a mid-1979 cost basis. The n-butane-based process entails higher investments and production costs than the others, but still may provide MTBE at an economical cost as a gasoline blending component.
