Patent ID: 7399891

Claim:
A process for the production of an alcohol, the process comprising: (a) reacting an olefin and water in the presence of a catalyst under conditions sufficient to form a crude alcohol stream comprising the alcohol and a dialkyl ether; (b) separating at least a portion of the crude alcohol stream into an alcohol-containing stream and a dialkyl ether stream; (c) contacting at least a portion of the dialkyl ether stream with an ether decomposition catalyst, the ether decomposition catalyst comprising: a mixed metal oxide having the following composition: X m Y n Z p O q where X is at least one metal selected from Group 4 of the Periodic Table of Elements, Y is at least one metal selected from Group 3 (including the Lanthanides and Actinides) and Group 6 of the Periodic Table of Elements and Z is at least one metal selected from Groups 7, 8, and 11 of the Periodic Table of Elements; m, n, p, and q are the atomic ratios of their respective components and, when m is 1, n is from about 0.01 to about 0.75, p is from 0 to about 0.1, and q is the number of oxygen atoms necessary to satisfy the valence of the other components, to form a crude dialkyl ether decomposition stream comprising the alcohol and the olefin; (d) recovering at least a portion of the olefin from the crude dialkyl ether decomposition stream; and (e) recycling at least a portion of the olefin recovered in step (d) to step (a).