Butyl rubber is the single, large market for high purity isobutylene.
The large and fast growing market for high purity butene-1 is as a copolymer in polyethylene. Polybutene-1 is developing as a secondary market. The butene-2 is not separated and purified in significant quantities for chemical markets. Various chemical and physical means are used in the separation processes evaluated. Market demand and supply are reviewed for high purity isobutylene and butene-1 and projections are made through the year 1986.