Patent ID: 6350919
Filing Date: 2002-02-26
Classification: C07C,C10L,Y02P

Abstract:
A process for the catalytic production of a mixture of oxygenated organic compounds suitable as a blending component of fuel for use in compression ignition internal combustion engines, which process comprises providing a feedstream comprising methanol, a soluble condensation promoting component capable of activating a heterogeneous acidic catalyst and a source of formaldehyde formed by the conversion of dimethyl ether in the presence of a catalyst comprising copper and zinc, and optionally a source of ethanol and/or acetaldehyde; and heating the feedstream with the heterogeneous acidic catalyst under conditions of reaction sufficient to form an effluent of condensation comprising water, methanol and one or more polyoxymethylene dialkane ethers having a structure represented by the formula where E is selected from the group consisting of CH3Oâ€” and CH3CH2Oâ€”, Eâ€² is selected from the group consisting of â€”CH3 and â€”CH2CH3, x is a number from 0 to about 10, y is number from 0 to about 10 such that the sum (x+y) is at least 2.