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Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK)

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05 November 2007 15:08

Source: ICIS

The main commercial route to MEK is the dehydrogenation of secondary

moves, analytics, data & more.

butanol. Some companies employ sulphuric acid (/fertilizers/sulphuric-acid/)

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hydration of n-butene to make the secondary butanol.

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mode=icisnews)

The alcohol vapour is fed into a multi-tubular reactor containing zinc or

o and the condensate is dehydrated by fractionation. The MEK phase

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separates from the water-ketone azeotrope obtained and is distilled.

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copper oxides as catalysts. The reaction takes place at 400-500oC and

pressures of less than 4 bar. Liquid phase technology is also employed in
Europe using Raney nickel or copper chromate at 150oC. Hydrogen is ashed

A newer technology involves the direct oxidation of n-butene in solution

using palladium and cupric chlorides as catalysts. MEK can also be made as a
by-product in butane-based acetic acid (/chemicals/acetic-acid/)
manufacture.

MEK could also become available as a byproduct from a new phenol

(/chemicals/phenol/) process being developed by Shell. This process
produces MEK and acetone (/chemicals/acetone/) as byproducts and there is
the potential to change the acetone/MEK ratio within reasonable limits to
meet varying market demands.

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Process licensors of the butanol dehydrogenation route include ABB

Lummus Global/Petroquisa, IFP (liquid phase) and Tessag-Edeleanu.

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05 November 2007 15:04 Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK) Uses and Market Data

global IPEX provides a capacity-

(/resources/news/2007/11/05/9076041/methyl-ethyl-ketone-mek-uses-and-

weighted measure of the average

market-data/)
05 November 2007 15:01 Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK) Prices and Pricing

Information (/resources/news/2007/11/05/9076042/methyl-ethyl-ketone-mekprices-and-pricing-information/)
05 November 2007 14:58 Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK) CAS No: 78-93-3

change in petrochemical prices

over time.
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(/resources/news/2007/11/05/9076039/methyl-ethyl-ketone-mek-cas-no-78-933/)

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