Abstract:
Glycerol can be etherified with olefins to synthesize alkyl glycerol ethers mixture. Based on Gibbs free energy global minimization, the innovative improved genetic algorithm was used for the thermodynamic equilibrium analysis and comparison on the synthesis processes of alkyl glycerol ethers from propene+glycerol, isobutene+glycerol in the manuscript. The effects of temperature(313 K-573 K) and pressure(0.1 MPa-0.8 MPa) on raw material conversions, product selectivities, and gas liquid phase equilibrium composition were investigated when the initial amount of substance ratio of olefin to glycerol was 4:1-8:1. Through thermodynamic calculation, it is found that when the feed amount of substance ratio of olefin and glycerol is 4:1 and the temperature is within the range of 313 K-453 K, the formation of trialkyl glycerol ether is favorable. When the feed ratio of olefin to glycerol is 4:1 and the temperature is in the range of 453 K-573 K, the formation of mono-alkyl glycerol ether and dialkyl glycerol ether is favorable. As the pressure increase from 0.1 MPa to 0.8 MPa, more and more trialkyl glycerol ether is produced.