Patent ID: 7576243

Claim:
A process for continuously preparing an alkyl mercaptan comprising: reacting a reactant gas mixture containing a dialkyl sulphide and/or a dialkyl polysulphide with an at least molar excess of hydrogen sulphide at 100° C. to 600° C. in a gas phase and a) in the presence of a catalyst containing Al 2 O 3 , SiO 2 , TiO 2 , an aluminosilicate, a zeolite, a bentonite or an alumina, and at least 1% by weight of alkali metal oxide, b) in a reactor which includes “n” separate catalyst zones and “n” is at least 2, wherein c) the predominant portion or the total amount of the dialkyl sulphide and/or dialkyl polysulphide is introduced into the reactor upstream of a first catalyst zone together with at least a portion of the total amount of the hydrogen sulphide used, and d) a remaining amount of the hydrogen suiphide and of the dialkyl sulphide and/or dialkyl polysulphide is metered in between the catalyst zones, e) and the reactant gas mixture contains a dialkyl ether which reacts with hydrogen sulphide to give an alkyl mercaptan and hence increase the overall selectivity of the process.