Ethylene oxide catalyst

Salts of neodecanoic acid have been used in the preparation of supported catalysts, such as silver neodecanoate for the preparation of ethylene oxide catalysts (119), and the nickel soap in the preparation of a hydrogenation catalyst (120). Metal neodecanoates, such as magnesium, lead, calcium, and zinc, are used to improve the adherence of plasticized poly(vinyl butyral) sheet to safety glass in car windshields (121). Platinum complexes using neodecanoic acid have been studied for antitumor activity (122). Neodecanoic acid and its esters are used in cosmetics as emoUients, emulsifiers, and solubilizers (77,123,124). Zinc or copper salts of neoacids are used as preservatives for wood (125). 

Promoters. Many industrial catalysts contain promoters, commonly chemical promoters. A chemical promoter is used in a small amount and influences the surface chemistry. Alkali metals are often used as chemical promoters, for example, in ammonia synthesis catalysts, ethylene oxide catalysts, and Fischer-Tropsch catalysts (55). They may be used in as Httie as parts per million quantities. The mechanisms of their action are usually not well understood. In contrast, seldom-used textural promoters, also called stmctural promoters, are used in massive amounts and affect the physical properties of the catalyst. These are used in ammonia synthesis catalysts. 

Ethylene oxide (qv) was once produced by the chlorohydrin process, but this process was slowly abandoned starting in 1937 when Union Carbide Corp. developed and commercialized the silver-catalyzed air oxidation of ethylene process patented in 1931 (67). Union Carbide Corp. is stiU. the world s largest ethylene oxide producer, but most other manufacturers Hcense either the Shell or Scientific Design process. Shell has the dominant patent position in ethylene oxide catalysts, which is the result of the development of highly effective methods of silver deposition on alumina (29), and the discovery of the importance of estabUshing precise parts per million levels of the higher alkaU metal elements on the catalyst surface (68). The most recent patents describe the addition of trace amounts of rhenium and various Group (VI) elements (69). 

Catalyst lifetime for contemporary ethylene oxide catalysts is 1—2 years, depending on the severity of service, ie, ethylene oxide production rate and absence of feed poisons, primarily sulfur compounds. A large percentage (>95%) of the silver in spent catalysts can be recovered and recycled the other components are usually discarded because of thek low values. 

Ethylene oxide catalyst research is expensive and time-consuming because of the need to break in and stabilize the catalyst before rehable data can be collected. Computer controlled tubular microreactors containing as Httle as 5 g of catalyst can be used for assessment of a catalyst s initial performance and for long-term life studies, but moving basket reactors of the Berty (77) or Carberry (78) type are much better suited to kinetic studies. 

Ethylene Oxide Catalysts. Of all the factors that influence the utihty of the direct oxidation process for ethylene oxide, the catalyst used is of the greatest importance. It is for this reason that catalyst preparation and research have been considerable since the reaction was discovered. There are four basic components in commercial ethylene oxide catalysts the active catalyst metal the bulk support catalyst promoters that increase selectivity and/or activity and improve catalyst life and inhibitors or anticatalysts that suppress the formation of carbon dioxide and water without appreciably reducing the rate of formation of ethylene oxide (105). 

The operational characteristics of the older Berty reactors are described in Berty (1974), and their use in catalyst testing in Berty (1979). Typical uses for ethylene oxide catalyst testing are described in Bhasin (1980). Internal recycle reactors are easy to run with minimum control or automation. 

C.T. Campbell, Cs promoted Ag(lll) Model studies of selective ethylene oxidation catalysts,/. Phys. Chem. 89(26), 5789-5795 (1985). 

Ethylene oxide aqueous solutions, physical properties of, 20 635t Ethylene oxide catalysts, 20 648-649 Ethylene oxide hydrolysis, rate constants for, 20 638t... 

In a bulk polymerization study initiated with BF3-ethylene oxide catalyst at 0° C, Ofstead (34) obtained quite narrow molecular weight distributions over the range from five to forty percent conversion. The comparison of his data for a PTHF of DP 96 with the theoretical curve for a Poisson distribution is shown in Fig. 23. 

Ethylene Oxide Catalyst (X 10-s) Open-Chain Polymer (Steady-State) ch2o (Max. Measured)... 

A. M. Lauritzen, Ethylene oxide catalyst and process for the catalytic production of ethylene oxide, European Patent EP 0622015, May 4,1988, To Shell Int. Research. 

In order to assess whether a catalyst optimized for epoxybutene formation was active and selective for ethylene oxide formation as well as whether a state of the art ethylene oxide catalyst (11) was active and selective for epoxybutene production, the two different catalysts were evaluated and the data summarized in Table 3. The ethylene oxide catalyst showed excellent performance (even at one atmosphere pressure) for the formation of ethylene oxide, yet was virtually inactive... 

Commercial ethylene oxide catalyst graciously supplied for purposes of comparison. 

Ethylene oxide catalyst, silver-based calcium increases selectivity... 

ETHYLENE OXIDE CATALYST IMPROVEMENTS HALCON SHELL UNION CAR. 

Ethylene oxide catalysts in which a solution of a silver salt is applied to AI2O3... 

Figure 6.33 Pd(II) immobilised on a sulphonated hydroquinone polymer as a Wacker ethylene oxidation catalyst.

TABLE 4.11. Early Ethylene Oxide Catalyst Composition. 

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