Date of Award

5-2017

Degree Type

Thesis

Department

Chemical Engineering

Director of Thesis

Dr. Thomas Stanford

First Reader

Dr. Vincent Van Brunt

Second Reader

Dr. Vincent Van Brunt

Abstract

Sec-butanol, C4H10O, is a flammable alcohol that is widely used as a fuel additive or as a reactant to make butanone, an industrial solvent. A hydration reaction between n-butenes and water, catalyzed by sulfuric acid, is a commonly used process in producing sec-butanol. However, a more challenging reaction and separation scheme is presented with a crude feedstock of butenes because of the abundance of azeotropes produced by side reactions. The development of a new plant design is relevant to industrial chemical plants that produce large amounts of crude butene side products, and can be useful by increasing plant efficiency and economic income.

First Page

1

Last Page

363

Rights

© 2017, Samantha How, Jacob Przywara, Bryce Robbins, and Gavino Valdez

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