For various reaction systems the integration of the reaction and separation in one unit is an interesting alternative to sequential operation in reactors and distillation columns. This applies, for instance, to equilibrium reactions, such as the production of methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) and tertiary-amyl methyl ether (TAME), allowing higher conversions in a reactive distillation column. Besides an improved conversion, integrating several unit operations into one unit can cause a more complex process behavior. For example, various theoretical studies predict multiple steady states for the MTBE process (see([1]) and references therein). In addition, experiments in([2]) suggest the existence of multiple steady slates for the TAME process. To our knowledge rigid experimental evidence like those existing for reactors (see([3]) and references therein) and distillation columns (see([4]) and references therein) has not been reported yet for reactive distillation processes. Both Part 1 and Part 2 of this paper demonstrate how suitable operating conditions for an experimental verification for the TAME process were determined by the close interaction of theoretical analysis and experimental work. Afterwards dynamic simulation was used to develop suitable start-up procedures for the different steady states. Part 1 concentrates on the theoretical analysis, while Part 2 covers mainly the experimental results.