Process to produce clean gasoline/bio-ethers using ethanol

Abstract

A fuel or fuel blendstock comprising ethanol, ethyl ethers, olefins, and alkanes. In some embodiments, the fuel or fuel blendstock of claim 1, wherein the fuel or fuel blendstock may have an octane number greater than 92 (RON+MON)/2). In other embodiments, the fuel or fuel blendstock may have a Reid vapor pressure less than 7.2 psi. Also disclosed is a process for the production of a fuel, the process including: contacting ethanol and at least one gasoline fraction including alkanes and olefins in the presence of a catalyst to form a fuel mixture including ethyl ethers, alkanes, unreacted olefins, and unreacted ethanol; and recovering the fuel mixture for use as a gasoline or gasoline blendstock without separation of the ethanol from the fuel mixture.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A process for increasing the volume of a fuel mixture by chemically and physically blending an ethanol fraction and at least one gasoline fraction, the process comprising:
 contacting said ethanol fraction and at least one gasoline fraction, wherein said at least one gasoline fraction comprises a mixture of alkanes and olefins, in the presence of an etherification catalyst to form said fuel mixture, wherein said fuel mixture comprises ethyl ethers, alkanes, unreacted olefins, and unreacted ethanol;   recovering said fuel mixture; and   using said fuel mixture as a gasoline or gasoline blendstock without separation of the ethanol from said fuel mixture,   wherein the process chemically and physically blends said ethanol fraction into said gasoline fraction and thereby provides an increase in the volume of barrels per day by at least 10% compared to a fuel mixture produced by a splash blend only process.   
     
     
         2 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the contacting further comprises:
 feeding said ethanol fraction and said gasoline fraction to a distillation column reactor system containing at least one etherification reaction zone; and   withdrawing said fuel mixture from the distillation column reactor system as a bottoms fraction.   
     
     
         3 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the contacting comprises:
 feeding said ethanol fraction and said gasoline fraction to a fixed-bed reactor system containing at least one etherification reaction zone.   
     
     
         4 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein said gasoline fraction comprises a mixture of C 4  to C 9  alkanes and C 4  to C 7  olefins. 
     
     
         5 . The process of  claim 4 , wherein said gasoline fraction comprises a majority of C 4  and C 5  olefins. 
     
     
         6 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the ethyl ethers comprise at least one of ethyl tertiary butyl ether, tertiary amyl ethyl ether, tertiary hexyl ethyl ethers, and tertiary heptyl ethyl ethers. 
     
     
         7 . The process of  claim 1  wherein said fuel mixture has a Reid Vapor Pressure less than 7.2 psi and an oxygen content of at least 3.5 weight percent. 
     
     
         8 . The process of  claim 1  wherein said fuel mixture has a lower ASTM D86 5% temperature than said fuel mixture produced by a splash blend only process, the two fuel mixtures having about an equivalent oxygen content, RON value, and Reid Vapor Pressure. 
     
     
         9 . The process of  claim 8  wherein said fuel mixture has an ASTM D86 5% temperature of less than about 130° F. 
     
     
         10 . The process of  claim 8  wherein said fuel mixture and said fuel mixture produced by a splash blend only process have an equivalent oxygen content of about 3.5 weight percent. 
     
     
         11 . The process of  claim 8  wherein said fuel mixture and said fuel mixture produced by a splash blend only process have an equivalent RON value of about 90. 
     
     
         12 . The process of  claim 8  wherein said fuel mixture and said fuel mixture produced by a splash blend only process have an equivalent Reid Vapor Pressure value of about 6.5 
     
     
         13 . A process for chemically and physically blending ethanol and at least one gasoline fraction to produce a fuel, the process comprising:
 contacting ethanol and at least one gasoline fraction comprising alkanes and olefins in the presence of an etherification catalyst to form a fuel mixture comprising ethyl ethers, alkanes, unreacted olefins, and unreacted ethanol;   recovering the fuel mixture; and   using the fuel mixture as a gasoline or gasoline blendstock without separation of the ethanol from the fuel mixture,   wherein the chemically and physically blended fuel mixture has a lower ASTM D86 5% temperature than a splash blended fuel mixture having an equivalent oxygen content and Reid Vapor Pressure.   
     
     
         14 . The process of  claim 13 , wherein the fuel mixture has a Reid Vapor Pressure less than 7.2 psi. 
     
     
         15 . The process of  claim 13 , wherein the fuel mixture has an oxygen content of at least 3.5 weight percent. 
     
     
         16 . The process of  claim 13 , wherein the fuel mixture has an octane number greater than 92 (RON). 
     
     
         17 . A process for chemically and physically blending ethanol and at least one gasoline fraction to produce a fuel, the process comprising:
 feeding ethanol at least one gasoline fraction comprising alkanes and olefins to a fixed-bed reactor system containing at least one etherification reaction zone;   recovering a fuel mixture comprising ethyl ethers, alkanes, unreacted olefins, and unreacted ethanol; and   using the fuel mixture as a gasoline or gasoline blendstock without separation of the ethanol from said fuel mixture,   wherein said fuel mixture contains a greater quantity of C 4  and/or C 5  hydrocarbons compared to a fuel mixture produced by a splash blend only process.   
     
     
         18 . The process of  claim 17 , further comprising
 feeding said fuel mixture from said fixed-bed reactor system to a distillation column reactor system containing at least one etherification reaction zone comprising an etherification catalyst; and   withdrawing a fuel product from the distillation column reactor system as a bottoms fraction and using said fuel product without separation of the ethanol from said fuel product.   
     
     
         19 . The process of  claim 17 , wherein said gasoline fraction comprises at least one of a C4 cut, a C5 cut, a C6 cut, and a light naphtha fraction. 
     
     
         20 . The process of  claim 17 , wherein said fuel product comprises at least 8 volume percent ethanol.